I will keep the story short.
I was at a house party, i met this Guy1 we made out, talked, exchanged numbers. Next days we forwarded a few messages and agreed to meet up the following sunday. Friday comes, I go to the club and I meet another Guy2, he is nice we dance a little, Im drunk, loud music is playing, we make out. We didnt exchanged no Instagrams or anything. Sunday comes I go to my date, but didnt tell Guy1 about kissing Guy1. If he asked I would told him, no problem. My friend thinks that I am an asshole but I dont think I did something wrong. And thats the end of story.
Is what i done Asshole behaivour?
If yes, I want to know how much. Lets say that 1 means neutral, doing nothing bad and also nothing good, and 10 is cheating on a partner wihtout a reason.
How do I rank between 1-10?
TL;DR- I kissed Guy1 and made a date with him, two days before the date I kissed Guy2

[Chapter One]
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Late at night, in the back of a warehouse.
Grigory squirmed against his restraints. The rope binding his hands was coarse and too tight, causing his hands to lose feeling. A bored council guard stood nearby, but was mostly ignoring him. He wasn’t going to get far with his hands and feet tied together. It was worse than he had thought possible. They are very much going to kill him tonight. This was even worse than either Stanisk or Aethlina had speculated, and he just knew that they would use his role in this disaster against him in future disagreements. However, he might be overly optimistic worrying about a future that might not include him.
Grigory thought over what he had left in his notebooks, contemplating if it would be enough for someone to continue his work. He wasn't sure. It was a lot more than he started with, but there weren't a lot of qualified scholars looking to follow his footsteps. The best outcomes for a lot of different paths all need him to survive.
Grigory tried not to be distracted by the ropes digging into him, and frantically wracked his mind for any sort of escape plan. He had a single imp totem on him, and they left him with his satchel nearby. That’s something. He would need to be untied to invoke it, and a single perfectly safe imp wouldn’t change the balance of power much. Perhaps if everyone but the four executive members left, he and Stanisk might have a chance to overpower them. Well he could at least be distracting while Stanisk overpowered them. They also hadn’t checked his satchel yet, so maybe he could bribe them with the ten thousand glindi engraved gold bar he brought to pledge his support? Bribes are a type of negotiation, and being tied up while they already had the gold put him in a frustratingly weak position to start negotiations. Not getting executed by the organised crime successor to the Council of Demonologists wasn’t on his list, but he still felt it was important.
Grigory could clearly see and hear the meeting continue in the centre of the warehouse. A small detail that he noticed was just how small the sums were. Robberies of a few hundred glindi? The value of a business protection racket being ten glucks a week? Had the runaway success of his imp-made goods distorted his value of money? Pandemonium Partners profited a few hundred thousand a month, and the big safe in the workshop’s basement held about a million glindi, mostly in heavy gold bars. That was after the expenses, taxes and salaries had been paid. Maybe bribes will work here.
Another trend that emerged was how cheap lives appeared to be. Stole a knife from the boss? Death. Miscounted the take? Death. Didn’t show up to the job? Finger loss. How they attracted or retained any talent at all was its own mystery. On that note, we wonder if he enormously overpaid his people? These goons were killing each other over sums of money close to what he paid each of his security goons a day, which in turn was a fraction of what he was paying his partners. All the people he hired seemed excited when he told them the starting salary, and not a single one asked for a raise. Not the time for that! Focus on the matter at hand! Grigory continued to look for anything that he could use to escape.
All too soon the business part of the meeting was concluded. Two of the Council's guards wheeled out a cask of beer, and a crate of cheap clay mugs. Not great news for plans that require being left alone. In singles and groups the ‘Demonologists’ started to come over to where he was tied up. To drink cheap beer and look upon true evil in his demon summoning face.
“Hullo gentlemen! This is all a silly mistake, I’m sure we can work something out,” Grigory said with a calmness and pleasantness he didn’t feel.
A gangster in a threadbare tunic and patched leather pants started going through his coat, and then his satchel. His notebooks with neatly written titles were thrown on the floor, and the minor spell reagents placed on top of a nearby crate.
“Holy shit!” he exclaimed far too loudly, ensuring everyone saw him pull out the slim gold bar, about the size of a knife handle. “This can’t be real?!” The gangster saw how everyone near him stared, mouths agape at the bar in his open hand. The bar’s engraving of the Royal Mint of Hiruxia glinting in the flickering rushlight.
“Back off! I found it!” He held the gold tight in his fist and drew his dirty, nicked knife from his belt with his free hand. Quicker than a blink of an eye every member had their blades out and the men at arms from the edges moved towards the commotion.
“PUT IT AWAY!” boomed Arcanist Devorio. He reasserted control of the situation with palpable menace. “The prisoner and all his goods are the property of the Council! Put it down on the table, Tricky Tupo!”
The gangsters grudgingly resheathed their weapons, and Tricky Tupo passed the bar to the Arcanist without making eye contact.
“Holy shit, it is actually real gold!” Devorio muttered after inspecting it for a second. “Where the hell did you steal something like this?”
Something in his phrasing crystalized a plan in Grigory’s mind. An insane, reckless, dangerous plan. Grigory tried not to smile when he replied, “Not stolen at all, well not from our plane of reality.”
“You summoned it?” the well dressed head of the council asked incredulously.
“Oh no, not at all! I stole it from the treasury of Hell! You see that’s the point of having a perfectly obedient demon, it does what I say, and not what the Lords of Hell say,” Grigory lied. The Hellplane wasn’t organised like that at all. There was no such thing as a treasury there. He still wasn’t sure how to sell it, but he hoped there was enough ignorance and greed in the room to do the heavy lifting for him.
“Demonologists have never stolen from hell! As far as I know. I think?” The arcanist was in uncertain territory.
“Mostly true! But we steal minor things all the time, like magical energy, or arcane secrets, but the exciting advance I wrote to you about was stealing things like minerals or artefacts and sometimes regular boring gold.” Grigory was hoping he was priming their greed enough. He worried he was being too subtle.
“Well, it looks like you have a new job! You steal Hell gold for us now!” The Arcanist-turned-crime-lord was back in familiar territory of coercing people into giving him what he wanted.
“Oh I couldn’t!" Grigory feigned reluctance. “I don’t have the right equipment, I haven’t done the full balancing equations for today’s planar alignments! I should go home and get what I need, and I’ll be happy to come back tomorrow and we can get a fresh start on this.”
“Not a chance! You’re doing the ritual this instant, or your blood will cover this entire floor!” Davenio countered.
Grigory, aware that excess blood could damage goods, decided against arguing. “Alright, you win, I’ll have my imp steal another dozen gold bars tonight, I guess. But that’s it! I’m leaving after that!”
“Hah! We’ll see about that!” The arcanist cut Grigory’s bonds while staring straight into his eyes.
Grigory rubbed his sore wrists, and looked at the fifty or so people that had gathered around him. Cruel smiles and the stink of cheap beer surrounded him, but he had a plan. “First I’ll need to summon my imp, to help me set up the ritual!” Grigory found himself speaking like a showman at a fair, with exaggerated gestures and in a loud clear voice. The assembled thugs, goons and crime lords backed up to give him some space. Aethlina suggested obscuring the details of invoking a demon, which was a great idea. He slowly and rhythmically chanted in demonic detail how he likes his tea, with lots of hand gestures and steps and ritualistic looking movements. After a few long seconds he pulled out the imp totem from his vest, waved it around like a wand for a bit before doing the quick gesture of invocation to actually invoke the imp. With two small clicks the tiny imp landed on the rough floorboards of the warehouse. Several goons gasped, and one of the lady goons even shrieked a bit. Truly a sad state of affairs when someone calling themselves a demonologist is startled by a tiny perfectly safe imp!
Grigory picked up his notebooks from the floor, and found the one titled ‘Charts, Formulas, and Tables.’. Doing some mental maths, and modifying a few old spells and rituals on the fly, Grigory gave his imp simple directions in demonic. He could have just spoken plainly, but he was aware he was also putting on a show. Keeping everyone’s attention was important for the next part.
“Ahem, is there any furnace ash, or the like? I’ll need to create a circle in ash or wax or sand.” A few people turned to look for what he needed, and Grigory returned to working out the planar alignment in his notebook. They returned with a canvas bag of stove ashes, he looked them over and nodded. “Does anyone have a silvered steel blade I can use? Anyone at all? No matter, I have one!” Grigory pulled out the small pocket knife he used to cut his food with. It actually was silvered steel, since that also came up from time to time in his line of work. Besides it was interesting to learn that was the only silvered steel blade in the room.
Grigory passed the bag of ash to the imp. He gave detailed instructions on the shape, symbols, and spacing of the elements, all crucial to the huge circle taking shape in the middle of the warehouse floor. The assembled crowd of dirty, dangerous, and desperate deviants started to look concerned. What had started as a bit of mean spirited fun was fast turning into the exact thing they knew was evil incarnate. A path to Hell was being built in front of them! A few moved to leave, but the others called them names and threatened their reputations, forcing them to stay and watch. There was a good reason to stay, there was about to be a lot of gold for everyone. In theory.
At last the preparations were complete. Grigory slowly walked the entire outside of his circle to make sure it was unbroken. He had done similar rituals before, but always with hours of double checking, and never with an audience. His hands were sweaty and shaking as he tore a page out of his notebook. Quickly, he scribbled down a final set of instructions in demonic script and handed it to the imp.
“Merp!” it said in agreement.
Grigory turned to address everyone. He saw a very worried Stanisk standing off to the back, and he subtly gestured for him to wait. Steadying his nerves for a second he addressed his gathered kidnappers, “Soon you will see a small tear in reality! Plug your ears, lest the screams of the damned drive you mad!” Grigory looked around, to make sure everyone was properly alarmed, and activated the ritual.
With a crack of thunder and a hurricane blast of dry wind that reeked of hot iron and sulphur Grigory’s surprise appeared in the centre of the circle. A towering rage demon, its black armoured hide covered in dancing hellfire, its wolf-like face filled with jagged fangs, and its shoulders brushing the rafters of the old warehouse. The assembled criminals looked up from the floor and saw the bipedal nightmare towering over them. They stood stalk still, not knowing how to react, nor sure what exactly was happening.
Grigory stood up straight and turned on the crowd, in a commanding bellow he condemned them, “What kind of idiots let a master demonologist do any summoning ritual he wants?! Look upon the true power of hell and despair!! Your petty schemes are –”
Grigory’s gloating was cut short by a foundation shaking roar from the demon. It started grabbing people at random, and biting them in half, throwing hunks of torso against the wall with splattering force. In accordance with the note, Grigory’s imp hopped up on the table, grabbed the bar of gold from where Arcanist Devorio put it, and sprinted figure eights between the demon's legs. With everyone’s fear AND greed now focused in the same area, Grigory took his stuff and ran for the door. Most of the so-called ‘demonologists’ were trying to escape, but a few were focused on the imp running with a gold bar held over its head. That was as much as a labourer would make in a year, and they couldn’t just walk away from that. The massive demon continued to kill and dismember with glee. The sound of tearing meat and snapping bones was even louder than the screams of the dying. As far as distractions go, Grigory was pretty proud of this one.
Grigory started for the door they had entered by. However, it was jammed with people trying to escape. He stopped at the edge of the chaos, trying to gather his thoughts. As he did, a better solution appeared to him. The demon grabbed one of the cutthroats that dove at the imp’s gold, and threw him at the wall with enough force to vaporise him. The impact filled the whole side of the warehouse in a steamy red mist, and sprayed meaty chunks over everything. The demon howled with laughter when he saw how people popped when thrown into walls.
The important part for Grigory was that there was now a second exit. An exit covered in gore and bone fragments, but entirely clear of goons. Signalling Stanisk, he made his way out through the wreckage. Slower than he’d like, and getting blood and worse on everything, but a clear path. The demon had stopped feeding entirely and was just throwing people as hard as he could, first at the floor then at other people. Its roars of rage were now peals of terrifying laughter. The air in the warehouse was thick with a mist of blood from the high energy impacts.
“I assume it knows not to kill us?” Stanisk asked in a ragged voice once he caught up to Grigory.
“Yes, but only not to kill people in purple. So don’t take off your tabard! It was the best I could do!”
They struggled out into the cool night air of the yard, free of the stenches of hell, gore and terror.
Stanisk looked down at his tabard, so soaked in fresh blood that it looked black. He ran even faster to the wagon.
“So this thing is just going to destroy the city until someone slays it then?” Stanisk asked, as they ran to the cart while frantically gesturing for his two guards to turn the wagon around and get it rolling.
“Oh no! Just until midnight” Grigory explained after he dove into the moving wagon. He wiped his blood soaked hands on his blood soaked robes, to no benefit.
Stanisk stared backwards at the destruction unfolding behind them. The demon had brought the warehouse down around himself and was clearly visible from the road. It was still energetically killing and smashing. “That's more than an hour! You reckon it’ll come for us?”
The single horse dragging a cargo wagon with four men on it was maddeningly sluggish
Grigory fumbled around for something to get the blood and bone fragments off his glasses. Finally finding part of his undershirt clean, he wiped them and he replied,“Oh my no,It’s bound to the summoning circle. Within a hundred paces.” They both watched as a few people fled on horseback, and a wagon rattled away at a gallop. Mostly it was a mess of shouting and terror. Knife fights broke out as people tried to commandeer the remaining horses. Horses were panicking and bolting without riders. Some survivors just ran away on foot. With every fresh kill the demon laughed so loud that Grigory felt like it was coming from his own skull.
“What the hell happened in there, sirs?” asked the terrified guard driving the cart.
Grigory turned around to answer, but Stanisk put a hand on his arm and answered instead, “Those filthy witches in there tried to kill us with a demon, but Grigory outsmarted them and turned it on its creators. Keep driving Kedril, we should be safe in an intersection or so.”
“Light preserve us all!” Kedril the driver said. “Is that a real demon Sir?”
Grigory watched the demon grab one of the goons fighting in the yard and threw him in a high arc towards the city centre. The demon’s arm cracked like a whip as it threw. The ragged corpse left a trail of blood mist as it arced far overhead.
Grigory answered calmly, “Yes.”
Grigory pulled out his demon totem from his robes, and devoked the imp, causing a gold bar a block and a half behind them to clatter to the blood soaked warehouse floor and slide into some debris. He was surprised how calm he felt. By all accounts his plan was in shambles and he’d stirred up a dozen hornets nests. Facing certain death and prevailing did wonders for one’s perspective.
Grigory looked over at Stanisk, and he was looking less calm. Which was entirely fair. A lot of uniquely horrific things happened tonight. Stanisk’s mouth was a tight line, face pale and eyes bloodshot. That might have just been blood from before, that got in his eyes.
“We can’t go through town looking like we bathed in the blood of the innocent, take us to the Golden Anchor’s warehouse on Glibstone Street. We own that place, we can clean up and change there,” Stanisk tersely told the driver.
Grigory countered, “First off, the previous owners of this blood were far from innocent, and secondly that’s across town, let's just lay in the bed, throw the rainsheet over us, and go to the main workshop.”
Stanisk groaned and tried to rub the blood off his face while he thought it over, but just smeared it around.
“Fine, Kedril, Remember to do a few triple left turns to make sure we aren’t being followed, like we discussed last month.” Stanisk undid the oilcloth on the side, connected it to the mounting points, and slid underneath.
“I think we need to review our plans!” Grigory whispered.
“Shhhh, cargo don’t talk.” Stanisk whispered back. The soldier cupped his head in one hand, and covered his eyes with the other and tried to get comfortable enough to sleep. Grigory rolled onto his back and stared at the cloth in front of his face. He tried not to dwell on the odd whip crack sound coming from behind them, nor the horrified gasps of the two guards on the driver’s bench while he mentally updated his plans.
****
A few hours later Grigory was bathed, wearing fresh clothes and feeling much better. He sat contemplating at the kitchen table in his workshop. He was troubled by what this was going to mean for his business and for himself. Stanisk was still in the tub cleaning up, and the two guards had been dismissed for the night. It was shortly after midnight now, and that meant more to Grigory than it did other nights. He hoped no one innocent died tonight, but he was also a little surprised how little he was bothered by the destruction he unleashed this evening. Considering it was the first time he took another human’s life, albeit indirectly, he expected a stronger emotional response. Part of this was a clear case of kill or be killed. Another part was these people were awful people. Grigory worried this might mean he had more subconscious bias against the value of the lives of the economically disadvantaged, but that’s probably not it. Being biassed against people that were willing to kill him made more sense, but also he knew the coming years mean that will become the same as willing to kill most of the world.
Grigory put on some fresh tea, and set out another cup for Stanisk when he was done washing. He couldn’t shake the feeling that his worst fear, being mad with power and using that power to violently kill everyone he perceived as an enemy, wasn’t as far-fetched as it was before. These were the goons that might have killed his mentor, Archmage Willoford. Avenging a mentor was a reasonable rationale, at least in songs and plays. Grigory knew that wasn’t his motivation tonight. And besides that was the inquisition from the sounds of it, these ones just celebrated his mentor's execution, which isn’t really moral grounds for demonic dismemberment. He also knew he could have summoned a stench demon or a screaming demon, or just non demon based rituals he could have used to escape without violence. He didn’t even offer to bribe them, just straight to violence. Grigory wasn’t sure he liked finding out who he really was when lives were on the line.
His introspection was interrupted by a sound coming from his workshop door, and he sagged with relief when he saw it was just Aethlina. Relief that was short lived, because the questions started immediately.
“I assume you had something to do with the demonic giant that threw seventeen people into the side of the Cathedral of the Light?” the elv asked, without reproach or scorn.
Grigory took a second to answer. “I had something to do with the presence of that demon in our plane of reality. I had a little to do with either the people it chose to throw. Nothing to do with where it chose to throw them nor its accuracy. Interesting it threw them at the Cathedral, you’d think it would have some kinship with the church? They both love burning people.”
“By all accounts the accuracy at least, was excellent. All the bodies hit Cathedral Square. The Cathedral itself requires extensive repairs to the nave, and two flying buttresses collapsed. At least according to the terrified lady I ran into.” Aethlina paused for a few seconds in case Grigory chose to share more details.
Aethlina asked mildly, “How rude of me. I meant to ask, how did your meeting go tonight?”
Stanisk came out from around the partition wearing fresh clothes. “The fucking witches weren’t even witches! They were just shadow blighted gangsters what stole the demonologists reputation! Broke as shit, and twice as dumb!”
Stanisk grabbed a bottle of whiskey off the shelf and sat down at the table, ignoring the cup and the pot of tea. After drinking right from the bottle he continued, “It hit the actual main Cathedral? The one right in the centre of town? That’s like an hour walk from where we were! A catapult wouldn’t have thrown a person half that far!”
“The one and the same, The Grand Ubrafadter’s residence is in that square, so I assume what follows will be the sort of witch hunt the city has never seen before.” Aethlina turned to Grigory, “May I also assume your reasons for staying in the city are weaker and your reasons for leaving are stronger than they were yesterday?“
“There were definitely survivors, and I was introduced by name. I can’t stay here, probably not in the empire at all. I don’t think they know the name of the company, but Stanisk and I were wearing the company’s sigil, so it might not be long for them to work it out.” Grigory rubbed the bridge of his nose without taking off his glasses. “I guess we should start planning our exit immediately.”
In a rare show of emotion Aethlina smiled for a second, “We are leaving on a ship named the Widow’s Remorse, it’s provisioned for us and departs on the morning tide, in about nine hours. The captain agreed to wait until we were in open water to hear our destination. He and his crew also suffer from a rare medical condition where their memory fades entirely anytime they are given a bag of money. The ship can carry thirty-five passengers, so the guards can bring their families. I’ll describe the places I think we should go, after we are in open waters.”
Grigory was both very impressed and a touch alarmed. “Did you know what would happen at that meeting? Did you know what I was walking into?”
“No, I had mistakenly assumed you were on top of that, and took you on your word about them. The odds of them being what you expected were poor. I also had a detailed plan in case they kidnapped you.”
Stanisk burst out laughing, “Imagine if they kidnapped you, Boss! All trussed up like a rotisserie chicken! Hah! I guess I’ll get packed and meet back here to get everything organised! I’ll miss my townhouse, but I’ve had enough of living in Jagged Cove, it's loud and crowded.”
Stanisk stood up, and turned to leave, but paused mid stride. “Miss Aethlina, how big of an investigation do you reckon it’ll be? Reckon they could keep after us after we leave?”
“Likely.There are cases where the inquisition spent entire centuries on the trail of heretics and their descendents. Those heresies were vocally opposing an aspect of doctrine. This may be the first heresy in which a building-sized demon flung citizens into Cathedral Square. I assume yes, they will be interested in following up.”
“Alright, I’ve got an idea that might buy us some time. Grigory, are there any specific numbers that are significant to demons?”
“Um, not actually, but the older texts are filled with references to threes and eights I guess?” Grigory said with a shrug.
“Perfect!” Stanisks' smile strengthened and he turned to Aethlina. “Can you think of eight nobles, eight businessmen, and eight clergy the city would be better off without? Here, write 'em on this!” He slid her a notebook page when she nodded.
Grigory leaned forward,”I’m not sure what you are going for?”
“In the army, there was a famously clever bird that would trick soldiers, called a red heron. We are going to make a whole flock of ‘em!” Stanisk excitedly explained. “Oh, draw a demon circle on this page, doesn’t have to work or anything, like the one from the warehouse”
Grigory began his sketch. “I don’t think red heron is quite right, but I’m catching your drift.”
While they wrote, Stanisk went to the carved chest where all the imp totems for the workshop were stored, and invoked twenty four of them. Taking Aethlina’s list and Grigory’s sketch, he ordered each imp to sprint across town and use hellfire to scorch the circle into the street in front of the home of a specific name.
After the final imp bounded out of the building and was leaping along the rooflines Stanisk returned to his partners. “Now they’ll have too many leads! Hopefully folk see the imps and hellfire, that’ll be even better!”
“We can just outvoke them in an hour or so, that's easy enough. Great idea, Stanisk!” Grigory said cautiously, still thinking through the plan.
“If your big demon didn’t cause a public panic, I can’t imagine a better way to finish the job.” Aethlina replied.
Stanisk smiled and shrugged. “It wasn’t my good looks alone that kept me alive this long! I’ll send some runners to gather the lads and get this show on the road. Human runners I mean!”
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Hi lovely people,
We just came back from our first trip to Japan and it was truly a memorable trip. We spent over 3 weeks in Japan from 07th May until 30th May. WE LOVE JAPAN! Can't wait to come back.
A little bit about us: We are both ~30y olds and enjoy a mix of urban, outdoor and culture during our holidays. We are foodies, but not hard-core as in we don't specifically organize our trips around restaurants. There are so many restaurants in Japan, it is hard to get a bad meal. We enjoy just wandering around neighbourhoods. Mostly low/mid-budget stuff with a splurge once in a while.
Our travel itinerary can be found here
General comments

• Time period of travel: We arrived 7th of May which is the last sunday of Golden week. We specifically wanted to avoid Golden week, as we heard it can be crazy busy due to domestic travels. And we also didn't want to go too late in May because June is rainy season in Japan. We were pretty lucky with the weather overall as we only had a couple of days of rain, most days were sunny and we even had some days of sweltering heat :O
• Like other people suggest, try to get in shape before you go! We are both in average shape. Almost every day we walked around 20.000 steps or more. The only rest days we had were the days where we were switching between cities, i.e. sitting in trains for longer periods of time. No complaints ;). I brought two pair of shoes: water-proof hiking shoes and one pair of light-weight running shoes. Switching between shoes was nice, I didn't have any blisters during my time in Japan luckily. All the walking compensated all the eating though!
• Check whether region specific JR passes might work for you. We decided against getting the nationwide JR passes as they didn't fit our needs and were expensive and instead opted for a regional JR Setouchi area pass. It was perfect for the Shimanami Kaido. We could travel from Osaka to Onomichi -> Hiroshima/Miyajima -> Kyoto. And it also gave us access to Nozomi shinkansen (fastest) and a great ferry ride between Matsuyama and Hiroshima.

Japanguide has a nice overview of all the passes : https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

• Be flexible (That's how we like to travel). I mapped out most of the sights beforehand according to must-see's and mapped out what other interesting sights there would be in those areas. The day before or in the morning, we would decide what we would do roughly, sight-see according to neighborhood and just wing it a little bit. We just love to wander around and see what we come across, mixed with some google maps + "explore" function. Some days you are just tired and just want to hang out in a park, or you have temple-fatigue and want to do something entirely else. Same with food/restaurants, we usually just used google maps to see what kind of great restaurants were near us at that moment. We haven't lined up more than twice our whole time there and still ate wonderfully. We do tend to avoid overly hyped stuff anyways. I do keep in mind that everyone has their own ways.
• Buy e-sim if possible, it is the cheapest and easiest way. My partner bought an e-sim and it was so convenient! My phone unfortunately didn't support it and I had to buy a sim. I opted for getting one at BIC camera, which was the cheapest I could find. 10GB for 30 days for 3200 yen.
• Keep plastic bags for trash. Buying food from conbini, and eating it somewhere? say yes to that plastic bag, because you will need it to stash your garbage until you are back at your hotel where you can throw it away or you find a garbage bin at the train station per chance. I read about this a lot on this subreddit, but still I found it astonishing the lack of trash cans. Fascinating how the streets of Japan are so damn clean.
• Try Pokari sweat. :) I tried it for the first time there and I was hooked immediately. It is awesome! Best electrolyte drink ever and it definitely saved me during those hot sweaty days there. CC lemon is also great!
• Go for a haircut or some other beauty/massage treatment. The hospitality is amazing in Japan. You won't regret getting pampered in Japan. They have all kinds of crazy treatments. I got the best haircut of my life for 4400yen.

Trip report

PS. I am not mentioning everything we did in this post. I will just mention highlights. It is still a long read though ;).
D1 - D2 Osaka
We landed at Kansai airport. Before our trip, we also bought train vouchers for Osaka online (https://www.howto-osaka.com/en/ticket/). Best decision ever, because the journey was rough and we were exhausted by the time we landed. We only had to exchange our vouchers at the station and off we went.
Osaka was nice city to start with as it is a more manageable "smaller" city whilst recovering from our jetlag. Despite being smaller, I do think it is worth a visit. Osaka is so iconic at night. We stayed at a spacious Airbnb near Kuromon Ichiban market.

• Takoyaki :) We had our first try of takoyaki at Takotako King instead of one the places at Dotonbori to avoid the crazy lines. You can sit down, have a beer and yes the takoyaki is amazing. It should be crunchy on the outside and deliciously goeey on the inside, doused with sauces and katsuobushi. Man, I wish I could go back and eat it again. It is true, you can't get great takoyaki outside of Osaka, at least I didn't get that same crunchy gooey combo again in other cities.
• Discount sushi from Takashimaya department store. For the budget-minded, this is a no-brainer. Around 7PM, an hour before closing time, you can get delicious fatty tuna maki at discount prices in the basement of takashimaya. Other foods at the department store food floor such as the fresh mochi are delicious also. Takashimaya is my favorite department store for food I think!
• Osaka castle - Our first castle in Japan. The green roof and the golden ornaments are beautiful and unique!
• Dotonbori - iconic :) fun to walk along. The queues are long there. We avoided eating at Dotonbori.
• Shitenno-ji - beautiful pagoda with buddha statues inside. Do pay the fee to go inside and see the garden. You can also go into the pagoda and walk up.
• Huge fan of Shotengai's, Shinsaibashi-Suji Shopping Street. They are so quintessential Japan.
• Ramen Tendo, the first ramen joint that we tried in Japan, so it has a special place in my heart. They specialize in chicken broth with lots of umami katsuoboshi flavor. Noodles were great too, very bouncy. Delicious! Little did I know that this ramen joint was really one of the best we would have this trip. It set the bar high for sure!
• Visit a local grocery store. Maybe it is just me, but I love to browse at local grocery shops (KOHYO namba Minatomachi) and be fascinated by all the different things they sell. It is also a great place to buy food souvenirs, like miso, green tea etc. Lots of pre-cooked meals/ fried stuff. Just a wider selection than your typical conbini. And again discounts if you go ~1hr before closing time.

Skip Shinsekai: We visited during the day and it felt very empty to me. More like a tourist-trap, the eateries didn't look appealing to me. Maybe during the evening this area is more fun.
D3 Nara
We did Nara as a day-trip from Osaka.

• Yes, to feeding the deer. It is touristy, but it is so much fun to be chased by cookie-crazed deer. One more thing: deer's fart a lot. We were wondering where this weird high pitched sound was coming from, those are actually deer farts.
• Todai-ji is very impressive, definitely a must visit.
• Just wander around in Nara park, it's very lush and beautiful and has many more shrines and interesting sights, such as manyo botanical garden. I wish we had one more day to explore Nara but oh well maybe next time :)
• We ate lunch at Magura Koya, a small restaurant run by a lovely elderly couple. Delicious tuna dishes. I had a tuna sashimi bowl and my partner the fried tuna set meal, so fresh!
• We had the best pork bun at Hourokutei at the end of the Higashimuki shopping street. It's a small hole in the wall, but omg the squishy-est juicy-est porkbuns ever.

D4 Onomichi
After staying in Osaka for 3 days, we wear heading west to do the Shimanami Kaido. We decided to stay in Onomichi (Hotel Beacon Onomichi) for the night before we started our two day bike trip. For this part of our trip, we picked up our 7-day Setouchi area pass at Shin-Osaka JR station. I just want to mention that I really love the hospitality of the staff in Japan. The JR office people were so nice and helpful. We reserved our seats for the shinkansen and off we went to Onomichi. Onomichi is a lovely little seaside town to just stroll around and take in the views. I really recommend spending at least half a day here. Don't skip it!

• Senkoji park observatory - we walked up to the observatory (ropeway available), please walk up as there are lots of nice alleyways, shrines and cats along the way :). The view is amazing, especially at sunset.
• Cat alley: honestly, every alley is cat alley.
• Onomichi Shotengai - very retro, lots of cute shops. We bought a nice poster from a little granny there.

D5 & D6 Shimanami Kaido -> Matsuyama
The next day, we picked up our reserved cross bikes from the general bike rental and off we went. Honestly, biking the shimanami kaido was the highlight of our trip. We took two days to bike the whole way, one day would definitely be too rushed for us. We stopped at Ikuchi island (Shimanaido NEST) for our halfway stay.
The sights along the way were great! It was so much fun to go down-hill, the uphills were do-able. We had great weather also, not too hot and no rain. Everything was clearly indicated, we just followed the blue lines. I felt very safe biking in Japan. PS. My butt did hurt from the saddle, so be warned! Bring some cushioned pants if you want to be safe side.

• First pitstop after the first bridge was Hassakuya. You have to stop here! They have delicious strawberry and citrus daifuku! The citrus had a bitter aftertaste, but they are famous for their citrus so its definitely nice to try.
• Just enjoy the views, stop everywhere to take pictures. There are lots of things to explore along the way.
• Stop at roadside stations such as > tatara shimanami park and yoshiumi iki-iki-kan. Especially before you take on the last bridge just do a little pit stop. It's a nice place to take some pictures of the insanely long bridge and have a citrus/vanilla soft cream.

https://shimanami-cycle.or.jp/ for more info and bike rental
We decided to bike one-way from Onomichi to Imabari and we have no regrets. I liked that we ended the bike trip with the longest bridge (4km!!). Imabari is very industrial, but after the fun long way down from the last bridge and being exhausted from biking you just want to get to the station and stuff yourself with pastries from the bakery at the station and go on to your next destination. Thus, we immediately took the train to Matsuyama. Originally, the plan was to enjoy the famous onsen in Matsuyama, but we didn't have enough time and we were also pretty tired. After checking-in at the hotel, it was already 4, we made our way to Matsuyama castle but unfortunately, we were too late to go in. It was still nice to view it from the outside and walk around the park. We planned to do sightseeing in Hiroshima the next day, so there was no more time to explore Matsuyama further.
D7 Hiroshima -> Miyajima
After Shiminami Kaido, we headed towards Hiroshima/Miyajima. We took an early ferry from Matsuyama. The ferry was included in the setouchi JR pass, so we gladly took advantage of that. It's a nice way to get to Hiroshima, just one last view of the Seto inland sea. One remark: if it is not JR serviced transportation, you do have to obtain separate tickets. Normally, just showing your setouchi JR pass is enough to get onboard the train, but for the ferry you do have to go to the ticket desk and show your JR pass to obtain the ferry tickets.

• Peace memorial museum - a history we must not forget and do not want to repeat
• We tried another Hiroshima speciality for lunch: Hiroshima Tsukemen. This tsukemen is GREAT. One of my favorite dishes. We ate at Tsukemen Karabu Tokaichimachi. The spicy umami dipping sauce is very addicting!

Surprisingly, it was very hard to find affordable good accommodation in Hiroshima. It was the weekend and two weeks before G7, so maybe that was the reason why it was harder to find accommodation. In the end, I found a nice simple hotel on Miyajima island and it was a good decision after all! After a long day in Hiroshima, we made our way to Miyajima to stay two nights. Staying on Miyajima island is lovely especially when all the day-trip tourist leave.
D8 Miyajima
Honestly, Miyajima is truly magical. Another highlight of our trip! We started the day early to get ahead of the crowd and that made it all so much more enjoyable. Seeing shrines and temples without a crowd is truly 1000x better! If you can stay at Miyajima island, do it! You don't have to splurge on expensive ryokan (although it would have been nice). We stayed at Sakuraya, which was very budget-friendly.

• Itsukishima Jinja - Nice but Daishoin and surrounding nature were the highlights for me.
• Daishoin - it is the most beautiful shrine complex I have seen in Japan this trip. I think it's because it was so quaint and it was embedded in the hill, surrounded by lush green nature. There were multiple complexes. There was a pathway studded with Jizo statues, buddist cave, prayer wheels and much more. While we were there, a ceremony with a monk was ongoing and everyone could participate in helping burning the origami peace cranes made by children, to make their wishes come true. We bought a little peace crane made from the ashes to remember this moment.
• Mt. Misen - we hiked up from Dashoin. It was ~2hrs? of steep stair climbing, 500m elevation gain. A challenge for sure but we definitely earned our way going down by ropeway :P. Views are great! go go! There is a bus to the ropeway so you don't have to suffer if you don't want to.
• Momijidani park - If you don't like Momiji trees, you can't be my friend.
• Snack along the Miyajima ometesando street. Crowded, but the cakes are great!

One remark, our hotel didn't include dinner and all the restaurants on the island close quite early. Luckily, with our setouchi JR pass, we could take the ferry for free, so went to the mainland for dinner. Just keep this in mind, when booking your stay.
D9 - D13 Kyoto
We took the early train to Kyoto and checked in at Tokyu stay Sanjo-karasuma. We had 5 days to explore Kyoto and by this time we had lost our FOMO a little bit and also decided to take it a bit more slow. We still ended up walking a lot anyways but at least we were sleeping in.
The day we arrived,15MAY, was supposed to be Aoi matsuri so we headed to Kamo river to see the festival. Unfortunately, the festival was postponed due to the slight rainfall and we had no clue! but we were next to Kyoto botanical garden and we decided to visit that instead!

• Kyoto botanical garden: it is a lovely garden with a huge variety of plants and trees to see. Really well maintained and during our visit there was a great rose garden in bloom. I recommend going there! It has a nice japanese garden section too with momiji trees and moss. A greenhouse with orchids. Lot's to see here. Only 200 yen.
• Arashiyama area - I really loved this area, not just for the bamboo forest. Togetsukyo bridge and Katsura river were the highlights for me. You can walk along the both sides of Katsura riverbank. A nice way to get to the bamboo forest and bypassing the busy beginning at the start of bamboo forest is by walking along the katsura river bank into Kameyama park and following the signs to Okochi sanso garden. You will end up at the backside of bamboo forest, which is the nicest part. We went more north to visit Pottery Tanuki, this area was very nice and quaint to walk around; bamboo, shrines and traditional houses everywhere.
• South kyoto - Fushimi Inari + Uji day trip - We visited fushimi inari around 9am and it was already very busy! If you hike towards up it gets more quite. We decided not to hike to the top, but instead do a little loop and we stumbled upon some lovely fox shrines. After Fushimi Inari we took the train to Uji. If you like matcha, visit Uji. It is a scenic little town with lots of matcha specialized cafes. We ate at Torikiku, famous for their matcha soba and udon. I had the best matcha icecream dessert at Nakamura Tokichi Byodo-in. Again, the riverviews are beautiful! It's a great daytrip from kyoto. On the way back to kyoto, we spontaneously decided to visit the Gekkeikan Sake museum. It's a small museum more about the history of Gekkeikan, but for 500 yen entry fee, you also get 3 small sake tastings. Fun for an hour or so. I wouldn't go all the way here just for the museum, but for us it was a nice stop on the way back to Kyoto.
• Gion - visit Gion in the evening and just wander around the little streets. Hanamikoji street is one of the more famous streets there.
• We ate amazing gyoza lunch at Gyoza-dokoro Sakemasa. Best gyozo of our trip.
• Higashiyama area - Heian jingu shrine, visit the attached garden for a fee, definitely worth it! We ate amazing mazesoba and ramen for lunch at Menya Yamahide. We also visited Kyoto handicraft center in this area where we bought an ukiyo-e painting. There was also a vintage antique market at that day. We just browsed a bit around the market and honestly that was a day worth of exploring :).

I didn't mention everything we did in Kyoto here. We also had so much more planned for Kyoto, but didn't get around to it, which was totally fine! We were also a bit temple-fatigued by that time and needed a slower pace. Hopefully next time, we can visit some of things we skipped. Furthermore, some days were incredibly hot (30 C degrees and humid) or we had whole days of rain. On those days, we decided to go shopping instead.

• Sanjo Meiten-gai shopping arcade , Compasso teramachi. One long shopping street between Omiya and Kyoto-kawaramachi station. My favorite shops were: Standard products, Tokyu hands and Loft.

D14 - D15 Takayama
After spending 5 days in Kyoto, it was time to leave the city and head for the Japanese alps. We took the shinkansen to Nagoya, where we changed to a limited express to Takayama. It took around 3 hours to get to Takayama, but we didn't mind. Train travel = resting time for our legs! Also, the views from the train were great!! I really enjoyed this train trip to Takayama. We arrived around noon and immediately checked in at our hotel (Hotel Kuretakeso Takayama). We had two nights in Takayama to explore the town.

• Hida beef - it's the wagyu of this area and I found my favorite place to eat it: Ajikura Tengoku. We went there twice for lunch, because it was that good. It was our first time in Japan to try yakiniku and sukiyaki. I really do appreciate the taste of wagyu but only in small amounts. I couldn't eat it everyday, because it's really so rich and yes paying for the premium cuts really does make a different in taste and texture of the wagyu beef.
• We really loved Takayama. Again, if you have time, stay overnight and wander around the streets during the evening when all the daytrippers leave. The town has such a nice vibe and it still has a very local feel to it.
• Miyagawa morning market. Fun to stroll around
• Hikaru museum - we stumbled upon this via google maps. It's a mayan temple-inspired building, very unique. You could visit the place just for the architecture itself, really impressive. It has a very nice collection of art. When we reached the top floor, there was a whole exhibition dedicated to a specific religious person. We didn't know beforehand but this museum is connected to a cult. Suddenly, it all made sense why this museum was so unique. We didn't mind, but it definitely puts the whole experience in a different light. It's a 1-hour walk from downtown, there is no direct bus connection unfortunately.
• Hida folk village - Open-air museum with nice re-builds of traditional mountain houses. We spend over half a day there. You can see local craftsmen doing their thing and you can also participate in pottery for example. There is a lovely pond and it is just pleasant to walk around. it's only a ~10 min. busride from Takayama bus station. You can buy combined entryfee+bus combo tickets at the bus station.

D16 Kamikochi -> Matsumoto
After checking out of our hotel in Takayama, we took the 7am bus to Kamikochi. We were only going to spend a day here, and then continue our way to Matsumoto to stay overnight.After ~1 hour of bus, we finally made it to Kamikochi. The Japanese alps are amazing. I wished we stayed longer in this area, but just the bus ride alone to Kamikochi was already a great with the views. We decided to hop off at Taisho pond bus stop and walk along all the major sights in the park. We had no specific plan. Just hike around as far as time allowed. For lunch, we stopped at this cute teishoku restaurant, where we ate katsu curry, a big lunch to fuel our walking. We also saw wild japanese macaques and lots of wildflowers where blooming during our time there.At the local shops, we bought some yummy pastries to snack on. I had the tastiest baumkuchen with cheesecake center and my partner had a chocolate ganache cookie. I really regret not buying more kamikochi pastries to take home while we were there.After spending the day walking around, we hopped on the 4pm bus towards Matsumoto. Checked in at Tabino hotel lit Matsumoto, where I relaxed in the onsen.
Tips:

• We were only carrying backpacks, so we hiked with them until we reached the kamikochi bus terminal, where you can drop off you bag at the storage for a small fee.
• Reservation is mandatory for the bus Kamikochi -> Matsumoto, you can do it online or while you are at the busstation before hiking.
• Transportation in the Japan alps is mostly by bus, do reserve ahead if you go at peak times. Main bus company is Nouhi bus: https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/.)

D17 Matsumoto Tokyo
After sleeping in, we did some sightseeing in Matsumoto before we moved on to Tokyo. We really liked wandering around in Matsumoto. Lots of cool shops with local crafts. We didn't know but the biggest national crafts fair is held in Matsumoto. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay for one day, but next time we would love to visit this crafts fair!
Matsumoto Castle - I really like the interior of the castle. It has been renovated, but still contains that castle feel. It is 5 story castle and you are allowed to climb all of it. It also included a pretty extensive gun/weaponry exhibition. Do arrive early because you do have to line-up within the castle to get from one floor to the other. This is due to the steep stairways, on which they allow only one-way traffic at a time.
Matsumoto city art museum - There was a nice exhibition from Yayoi Kusama. We didn't know but Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto. It is a good replacement exhibition if you aren't able to snatch up tickets for Yayoi Kusama museum in Tokyo.
Nakamachi street and Frog street - street with persevered houses with craft shops, cafes, brewerys. What more do you want.
After spending the day in Matsumoto, we took the train to Tokyo, our last destination of our stay. We decided to stay in Ueno (Hotel resol ueno). This hotel was located close to Ueno JR.
D18 - D24 Tokyo
Last 7 days in Tokyo. By this time, we were just enjoying everything at a much slower pace. Tokyo is huge! Staying near the JR line is indeed a must like everyone said. I could go on hours about Tokyo, I am just going to mention some highlights here.

• Anmitsu at Anmitsu Mihashi. My favorite dessert! It contains agar jelly, mochi balls, red bean paste, fruit and a scoop of matcha icecream.
• shopping in Ginza - It's nice to go during the weekends when they close of the streets for cars. We liked visiting flagship stores of Muji, Uniqlo. Go to Itoya if you are a stationary freak.
• Ueno park - Museums, shrines, Lotus pond. Have a look at their website, there are almost always events in the park. :)
• Tsukiji market - very busy, but fun to have a look. Lines everywhere. Look for sushi restaurants that open around 11am, line up at one of those places. I don't think it has to be the one with 4.5 rating and 1000 reviews. Why? There are so many good restaurants in Tsukiji area. We went to Tsukiji Kagura Sushi.
• Hamarikyu gardens - Bonsai pine trees pruned to perfection. Ponds filled with sea water, thus there were seabass, little sardines and jellyfish in the water. Very special! You also had a nice skyline view from the park which is a cool contrast! It was nice and quiet.
• Tokyo Skytree - best view :) it also has a great shopping complex attached to it.
• Asakusa area - Senso-ji
• Yanaka Ginza - we went during the weekend and there was live music, little stalls and just very lively in general. Really nice to spend a morning. Largest preserved cemetery, which apparently welcomes visitors a lot for flower viewings. It is a preserved neighborhood with traditional houses and lots of shops selling crafts, gifts, souvenirs, and unique snacks.

That's it!
For 24 days, we spend around ~2500 euro p.p. (excl. 1000,- flights). This amount includes food, transportation, entrancefees and shopping/gifts. so average is ~100 euro/day. We didn't track every cost. Hotel costs were 900,- pp, which ranged from 50,- to 120,- per night accommodations. The conversion yen/euro is also great at the moment, so it might have contributed!
I hope you enjoyed my trip report. Let me know if there are any questions.

Chapter Sixty Six: Plotting with Puppy
Entering into the entrance hallway of the apartment Simone tentatively holds up her hand to inform the other two women to wait.
”Something wrong?” Chak asks before looking down at Zrume who sits at her side vigilantly.
The animal’s ears perk up and nostrils flare silently, keeping her own tabs on the situation.
“Hope not, but…” Simone replies in concerned thought, “While I was stranded on the Gratt homeworld and just getting to know Meeki, she was chased and attacked by big burly dogs like Zrume here. Not the same breed of course, but I wanna check in with her before waltzing in, you know? Her only experience with dogs being like that, she probably needs a warning.” she informs.
Chak’s eyes widen slightly and she quickly nods.
“Oh, of course. Yes, that’s a good idea.” she agrees before placing a lower limb on the mutt’s big head.
“Surprised you accepted taking it! You seemed very scared of it at first.” Sonla comments, having been keeping her own distance from the animal thus far.
“She’s a little scary, certainly. Definitely intimidating in size and stature…” Chak grants, “But that look in her eyes… she’s without a doubt a very good natured girl.” she says while gently petting the dog.
“I think so too, but we’re gonna have to be careful introducing her to everyone and make sure she knows who’s a friend. Don’t want her thinking any of them approaching you is of concern.” Simone says before walking ahead to enter the apartment, “You guys wait here, I’ll just be a sec.”
Entering the apartment proper, Simone looks around the circular center hub space. There’s a faint smell of pizza in the air as the empty boxes are still resting on the counter island in the kitchen area. However there is no sight of either Gratt or Terran outside their disheveled mess in the center media couch.
Simone would have felt a but more concerned with how late the three seems to be sleeping in, but the evidence around reveals that they just have been up late having fun while they can.
However, knowing that she still can’t surprise them with the pouch, she walks over to the Gratt’s room and knocks her knuckles against it.
Though when Troy answers it dressed in nothing but a blanket Simone looks over to the other room doors confused.
“Oh, morning dude. Sorry, did I forget who’s room is who’s?” she asks in a chuckle.
“Nope.” the sheepish man replies as he rubs the sleep from his eyes, “Uhm… shoot. Yeah, uhm… Meeki and Nodrin are just waking up too, need me to get ‘em out for ya?” he says as his cheeks redden.
Simone’s eyes gradually expand in realization as she tilts her head enough to see the partially collapsed fortress of pillows and blankets. Nodrin pokes their head and upper torso out from the draping wall in a stretch, while another pair of loving Gratt hands massage their torso in the usual process of separation.
“Hmmmm… morning good Simone.” Nodrin groggily utters as they more fully pull away from their softly chittering partner in a crawl out.
Returning her eyes back to Troy to grant the nude Nodrin a bit of privacy, Simone clears her throat and rubs the back of her head.
“Wow… It looks like you guys had a hell of a time. Uhm… congrats? It seems like it went well. Right, ahh… Yeah...” Simone rambles with several streams of thoughts going through her mind, but she eventually snaps to it by raising her voice slightly, “Meeki? Nodrin? I need you two to get dressed and step out asap. There’s something I need to run by you guys before Chak comes into the apartment.” she calls out to the Gratt before winking at Troy and stepping away and scavenging one of the few remaining cold slices of pizza in the fridge.
“Okay!” Meeki’s voice replies before Troy closes the door to get dressed himself.
Simone updates Chak on the situation with her Lens as she leans against the kitchen island, and only waits for about a minute before the three hurry on out more appropriately garbed. For the most part.
Troy is still shirtless as he wanders out and approaches the kitchen area and starts digging through the cupboards.
Meeki and Nodrin run up to the island by Simone and sit up on the stools. The female wears a gray shirt that’s way too big for her, answering why Troy’s outfit is incomplete.
“Well I’m not seeing much guys, we can try ordering in again. But there’s enough to work with here for some quick and dirty pancakes. Not seeing any syrup or jam, but I think I can make something real quick with these frozen fruit packs in the freezer. Maybe I’ll just throw ‘em into the batter and see if it works out?” Troy tells the duo, seeming to have picked up a conversation they were having while getting dressed, “Oh! And bacon! At least… something that looks like bacon. Definitely not from a Terran animal so I can’t be sure if it’ll cook the same.”
“Sounds much good!” Nodrin agrees as they rest their head in their hands, watching the half dressed Terran get to work, very much enjoying the show.
“What we need to discuss?” Meeki inquires the nearby redhead.
Simone nods before finishing off the slice in her hand.
“Chak and I brought some new friends back home with us, and I wanted to give you a heads up. Probably should’ve messaged ahead… but let’s just say we were a bit distracted. One of them is a Vorook named Sonla. She’s a bit of an infiltration expert and I have a good idea of what she can do in case things don’t go to plan. That said, hold back on details with her for now.” Simone says, to which the Gratt nod, “And… the other is a security service animal that was gifted to Chak by the Z’ah’tuck ambassador. Long story.”
“And I thought we had a wild night… Did you even manage to have that date?” Troy says over his shoulder as he mixes wet and dry ingredients in a bowl.
“Yes, actually. It was amazing, all this other stuff happened afterwards. Anyway, Meeki, Nodrin. I want to clear it with you before bringing the animal in because… it’s a dog. Meeki, I know for a fact that your introduction to dogs was harrowing to say the least, because they were the animals those Gaia people used while invading your home.” Simone addresses the two green folk, seeing a bit of confirmation of her concern in the responding fearful Gratt eyes looking to the entrance door of the apartment.
“The four legged beasts with fur?” Meeki inquires a bit nervously.
“Yep. But I assure you that this one will mean you no harm. Those Dogs that attacked you before were raised and trained to do so. But dogs themselves are domesticated animals that are broadly safe to be around, as long as you don’t make yourself a threat to them. And even then, they may just cower from ya rather than fight. That said, Chak’s new dog Zrume is trained to be a kind of bodyguard. It’s important to know to not act aggressively towards Chak when she’s ‘on duty’, alright? However I’d like to socialize her with you guys here in a sec while she’s ‘off duty’. You know, to make sure she understands you two are friends and permitted near Chak in times of crisis. Is it okay with you two to let them in?” Simone elaborates.
“So… this dog is nice?” Meeki questions for full confirmation.
“Chak called her a sweetheart herself. And I completely agree. As long as you don’t bum-rush Chak for some reason as soon as she walks in, you will be perfectly fine. Just don’t stare into her eyes until she’s comfortable around you. For dogs direct eye contact can be seen as a threat.” Simone answers, “Ready?”
Meeki blinks as she watches the door for a moment longer.
“Yes. Is okay to bring them in.” she nods.
The redhead pats Meeki’s shoulder reassuringly and messages Chak, informing her that she is cleared to enter.
Everyone within the apartment turns to get a look as the entrance opens up to the Cali princess holding a leash to an animal that weighs more than she does.
Meeki relatively takes hold of Nodrin’s hand, but otherwise remains calm as the god is brought closer to the kitchen area.
Chak stops and pulls up a list of provided commands that the canine is trained in.
“Zrume, at ease. Safe zone.” she states firmly, hoping that she did it correctly.
Immediately, Zrume’s posture loosens and even becomes a little wiggly as as she looks down and begins sniffing the ground and nearby furniture within range of the leash’s allowance. Although the leash straightens out, the gentle creature doesn’t pull against her owner’s grip, instead simply shifting her focus to something else.
Quickly that focus comes upon the two Gratt still sitting on stools. Coming closer with caution, Zrume approaches the strangers carefully.
“Lower your hands with palms out, let her say hi first.” Simone advises.
Nodding Meeki slowly obliges, twitching slightly as the animal starts to sniff her clawed hands. Then in a side-rub against Meeki’s legs the dog opens its mouth in a relaxed grin exposing her tongue.
Feeling like permission is granted, Meeki starts to pet Zrume’s shaggy fur along her vertical back.
Nodrin then lowers their hands as well for another sniff-inspection before being enthusiastically allowed to join in on the petting.
Meeki’s nerves gradually fade as the animal proves to be indeed very friendly and well mannered. Nothing like the animals that intended to tear her to shreds way back when.
“Hello Zrume.” she says in a relieving sigh.
At the sound of her name being spoken by this new person the dog arches her head back and up at the Gratt female. Her expression being only what can be defined as ‘goofy sweetness’ with big expressive eyes and a heavy swinging of her happy tail.
Simone covers her mouth, trying to not snort a laugh upon seeing the dog’s dorky nature. Removing her bag from her shoulder she turns to look at Sonla who has been very quietly looking around the apartment and the folks within.
“And this is Sonla. Sonla, this is Nodrin, Meeki and Troy.” the redhead introduces with a moving hand gesture.
The monkey-like lizard stood up from walking on her knuckles to give everyone a wave.
“Hi.” she says a bit awkwardly.
“Welcome to the circus!” Troy greets as he pours his pancake-fruit mixture into a heated and buttered pan. Leaving it for just a moment he leans over on the island and gives the Vorook a big smile, “Want any pancakes? I might have made a bit too much batter while trying to even out the texture.” he offers.
“I’m an obligate carnivore, so no thanks.” Sonla replies as she settles back on her thickly scaled knuckles.
“Oh, sorry, right. My bad.” Troy chuckles as he rubs the back of his neck, “Uhh… what about some bacon? The animal is uhm…” he turns sound to closely read the chilled packaging for the answer, “Premium cloned loamph? Not really sure how ‘premium’ cloned stuff is, but we got it!”
The man flips the package in the air with one hand while the other gives the lizard lady a thumbs up.
“Yes!” Sonla immediately replies as she maneuvers up to the remaining stool by the island, and adjusts it to compensate for her shorter stature.
“You got it!” Troy says with a finger-gun before turning around once more to tend to his cooking.
After a short while seeing the dog is handling the situation well, Chak takes off the leash. Zrume takes this opportunity to step away from the Gratt and further explore the space around her.
“She’s very nice.” Meeki says as she watches the animal sniff around everything that was in her path, “She play or no?” the Gratt inquires curiously.
“Oh yeah. I imagine she’d be happy to play things like fetch and tug-of-war. In fact Chak already ordered toys, food, a bed and a waste pad system to be eventually delivered to the Kwip-chap.” Simone answers before her fiance pressed up against her in a side hug.
“It’s only sensible to be prepared now, rather than later.” Chak defends in a chuckle as she keeps an eye on the pouch, “I just hope the children will like her.”
“I’m sure they will.” the redhead replies as she gently rubs the Cali’s back.
Meanwhile Sonla finds herself staring up directly at Nodrin with an unreadable expression.
“You… alright?” Nodrin asks.
“Why do you have four eyes?” Sonla bluntly counter-questions.
“Ah- uhm… because I was born with four? As most Gratt are. Four eyes not all that strange when it comes to other species. Truba, Carvv and Hallo as examples.” Nodrin answers, confused by the question,
“Well duh, but I mean why does your species have four eyes evolution wise?” Sonla clarifies, “Carvv and Hallo have four to see different light spectrums, and Dillo needed six to look upwards for falling debris in sandstorms and cliffsides. Runeani have eight! I think that is because they needed good depth perception.”
“Oh, so you much study biology science?” Nodrin assumes.
“No. It’s just kinda creepy to look at without context.” Sonla bluntly responds with a shrug,
Nodrin leans back a bit, finding themself a bit offended.
“Much rude… but if it make you comfortable to be around us then I’ll answer the best I can.”
“Sorry. But yes, it’ll help.” Sonla says, although to the Gratt her tone can stand to be a bit more apologetic.
“Very well. They help get more clear vision in dark places. Mostly they help us with close inspection and far distance seeing.” Nodrin explains before pointing at their pair of eyes furthest from the center of their face, “But outer eyes are much special. Our ancestors were aquatic animals and so Gratt’s outer eyes still have extra clear lids to see underwater.”
“Oh. Aquatic?” Sonla questions, “Where did head fur come from then? Are you like mammalian?” she adds with more genuine curiosity.
“I… don’t know…” Nodrin admits, “Gratt study past ancestors much, but we still know little. Though hope new tech from the stars can help with all our sciences.”
“I saw Terran article that said we closely resemble… uhm…” Meeki inserts herself into the conversation before trailing off as she forgets the classification used, “One moment…” she utters as she navigates her Lens to find the article she found, “Ah! Synapsids! Not exactly like, but much comparison. So we are compared to ‘Mammal-like reptiles’.”
Sonla blinks before looking back as the roar of bacon hits a hot pan.
“Huh… Neat!” she replies, “Vorook can’t really swim very well. We tend to sink and even if we don’t we are too top heavy so our heads get stuck underwater. Very funny to see, but also sad. But we are really good at climbing! We can hold on to and dangle from things for long periods of time!”
“But not holding on to speeding shuttles roofs, huh?” Simone teases, as she maneuvers her positioning to get a better line of sight on the sizzling bacon.
“N-no… Well maybe, if it didn’t get so cold so fast.” Sonla says,
Troy looks back at his fellow Terran with a furrowed brow.
“What did you guys get yourselves into?” he says as he breaks into a bewildered laugh.
“I’m sure you’ll know soon enough when you get the chance to look at the news. But by the end of it Chak managed to secure overwhelming Z’ah’tuck support for her and her efforts to take back the throne. Like… military support. Granted, they have a lot to gain from it, but so do we.” Simone reveals as she finds herself a bit closer to the plate where the man was putting down the greasy strips of crispy goodness.
Chak then lets out a genuinely humored giggle that borders on outright laughter.
Confused, Troy looks to Simone then to his other side where Chak is looking. Having somehow sneaked up on him, Zrume sits there while gazing up at him with big pleading eyes with a little line of drool dripping from her maw. Noticing that he is boxed in he turns to Simone and aims his tongs out at her.
“You already pillaged our leftovers, you can wait a few minutes for bacon!” he states sternly in his fake parental tone before turning to the dog.
“Sorry pupper… way too much sodium for you. It’ll upset your guts real bad.” he sweetly apologizes.
As he addresses the canine, Simone swiftly reaches over and silently snatches two hot strips from the plate and retreats back before he is able to notice.
“You motherf-” Troy laughs once he sees both Simone and Chak snacking on the stolen goods, but knowing he would do the exact same drops it immediately.
Simone smirks in victory as she wanders over to the circular center couch to make herself comfortable as they all wait for their other Terran comrades to return from their own mysterious mission.
-
“Well that wasn’t a complete disaster…” Brandy mutters as she strides ahead of Thorn and Devin with her arms crossed while marching into the apartment entrance hallway.
“Hard to believe we weren’t caught after that water tank collapsed… Almost didn’t have the time to scrub us from all the crossing security footage.” Devin groans in a low grumble.
“Getting caught? How about -oh you know- nearly crashing that tanker shuttle into a residential area!?” Brandy snaps back.
“Not my fault that the pilot passed out.” Devin argues.
“Sorta was, that kinda happens when you jumpscare a Zernth from behind like you did.” Brandy counters.
“It was either lose the target or try to convince the Zernth to turn left.” Devin sighs before he feels a mechanical hand press on the back of his shoulder.
Pushing him to hurry up, Thorn catches up with Brandy where he plants his other hand.
“Mmhmm. Not our best work. But we got the bastard and actually convinced the Squilla ambassador to help us out in our little operation here. Other than some spilled water, we managed to pull it off without a hitch. I say we all learn from the experience and get to what’s further down the trail. Remember what’s at stake.”
“Yeah, you’re right. But still… it’s those stakes that make every mistake feel like I’ve wronged the entire universe. Like it’s heavier than it has any right to be.” Brandy replies as she reaches the door, “One fuck up and who knows how many people will be hurt from it down the line…”
“Aye… but in the grand scheme of it all your actions have had the same weight your entire life, because it led you here doing what you’re doing. Still, you're right, it’s a lot to bear on the heart.” Thorn grants, “My advice? Take a note from Simone’s book. Just keep moving forward and rest in the arms of whoever you want to hold ya.”
“I honestly don’t know how she copes. It’d drive me into a downward spiral of stress and paranoia going through half of what she has.” the woman huffs as she reaches to open the door via indicator.
“Don’t compromise who you are, and preserve your capability to love throughout all of the hell life will march ya through. It’ll hurt, but it’s worth it because that’s how you win life.” the old man states right before the door opens.
“Yooo! Bout time! You guys want some cold pancakes? I can reheat ‘em if you’d like!” Troy cheers from the couch with two Gratt resting at his sides.
“I hope you three have moved from the couch at some point…” Brandy says with an exaggerated eye roll, “Have a good night?”
“Yeah we did!” the man answers both of Brandy’s sentences at once.
“I’m going to set up to get our finalized planning underway. Ten minutes.” Devin notifies as he peels off to his room.
“Good. I hear we have a new member to the crew?” Thorn says as he strides in with his hands on his hips.
As if summoned, Sonla’s head peeks out from behind the other side of the couch.
“That’s me! Master infiltrator Sonla at your service!” the Vorook introduces herself, now standing proudly upon the headrest.
“Master eh? Good… We’re definitely gonna need a master’s handiwork in our lil’ operation.” Thorn chuckles as he scratches at his five o'clock shadow.
“We were also told that we have a doggie?” Brandy asks as she looks around for any trace of the animal.
“Yup! Simone and Chak were just showing her off to their kids in a call.” Troy explains as he thumbs to their room.
As if summoned by Troy’s opposable digit, the door opens with Chak once again holding the leash of the dog.
“Welcome back, I hope everyone is alright?” the princess inquires as she guides Zrume out to meet Brandy first, “At ease, safe zone.” she reminds the animal.
“Why hello there! Oh my goodness I’ve never seen a breed quite like hers before! Like a big pitty and… African painted dog maybe? Has the color at least. Definitely some others mixed in there too, hint of mastiff or something else chunkier? But still all the pretty in a fluffy package!” Brandy says as she scratches under the dog’s wide neck, which is very much approved.
Though the angle of Zrume’s ears change to one of caution and alertness. Turning her head towards the old man who had yet to approach she released a low growl.
“It’s okay Zrume, safe zone.” Chak assures, but the animal’s stare remained intense on the cybernetic man.
Seeing the confusion and concern on everyone’s faces, Thorn raises his hand.
“Don’t worry about it, dogs and I don’t really mix. A shame really, but it’s something to do with how my non-organic bits emit a sound they find very agitating. Like a walking annoying dog whistle. I’ll see if Devin can do anything about that, but in the meantime it’s best if the dog and I keep separate.” he explains.
“Oh damn. Yeah I guess dogs never really approached you before. Bummer. I guess while we sort things out we’ll have her chill in our room.” Simone says apologetically.
“And I’ll bunk up when she needs some runnin’ around time.” Thorn nods back appreciatively, “She’s downright adorable by the way.”
As Chak turns back around to lead Zrume back in her room for the time being, Troy’s eyes go wide and he points at Simone dramatically.
“Shit dude I almost forgot! Someone came asking for you by name.” he reveals.
Looking to him with a bit of fear in her eyes Simone gave him her full attention.
“Who?” She demands.
“Don’t worry I never confirmed you were actually here and she seemed… not like the people we’re up against. She was a tall thin lady who said she was a friend of yours from your academy days? She left a contact card and before you ask, yes I scanned the hell out of it. She seemed to really really want to talk to you.” the man explains as he feels around his pockets and when he finds nothing he shoves his hand down the crevice of the couch until he victoriously pulls the card out of the furniture-void.
He holds it out to which Simone accepts hesitantly.
“Yeah, okay…” she mumbles while looking at either side of the card.
“Just be careful, our options of people who we can trust from your military career are thin at best.” Thorn cautions.
“I know. And… I think I know who it is. Honestly I have no clue how involved she is, if at all… but it’s quite the coincidence she shows up now of all times.” Simone admits.
“Is she gonna be a problem for what we’re planning to do?” Brandy asks.
“If she has nothing to do with the Terran terrorists, then I don’t think so. I’d ignore this completely, but I ought to at least know what she wants to talk about, clearly she knows I’m here anyway. No point in avoiding it, especially if she seeks me out during our operation regardless of her intentions we’re asking for trouble. The other big issue of course, is that she’s still with the Terran Union. This could just be a ploy to get me arrested and into Union custody.” the redhead says as she taps the card in the palm of her other hand.
“Then wherever she wants to meet I’ll come with you.” Chak announces as she returns to her Terran, “I’ll even request for Ambassador Zrreak’s attendance if possible, or at the very least have a representative of his there to show that arresting you would be a terrible political nightmare for the Union.” the princess adds sternly with an affirmative nod.
“Damn you're so hot when you get like this…” Simone replies in jest to alleviate her own nerves, “But yeah, I appreciate it.”
“But first before any of that potential shit-show…” Thorn says as he crosses his arms, “It’s time we put our main plan to paper. We have a president to possibly kidnap and hold at gunpoint after all.”
“Oh… wow. That’s a bit more than ‘less than legal’...” Sonla mutters with wide eyes “Good thing I’m a master of explosives too…”

Hello! Apologies for the long post.
I have a trip coming up later this summer and have several questions or things to clarify. I know this is a longggg list (and maybe I’m just an idiot) but think most of these should be pretty short/quick answers for people who know the answers.
Some info: I’m flying from my home airport to ATL and then onward to Mexico City in main cabin. I am then immediately flying MEX to LAX to SYD on a separate ticket (Delta One) that I purchased with miles. The MEX to LAX leg is Aeromexico, the other two legs are Delta. I’m platinum medallion and have global entry. Questions/items I’d like input on or confirmation of:

1. When I land in Mexico City, I will presumably have to collect my checked bag and then pass through customs/immigration. Being a US citizen, it looks like there are no visa requirements.
   
2. I will then go up to the Aeromexico desk and re-check my bag. Due to Delta status, I think I’ll avoid bag fees.
   
3. In the airport, I should have access to the Aeromexico lounge due to either my D1 ticket or (maybe more correctly) SkyTeam Elite Plus status?
   
4. How much time would you allow between the flight arriving in MEX and then departing to LAX?
   
5. When arriving at LAX, do I have to collect my bag again, then clear US customs/immigration, then re-check my bag with Delta? If so, how much time would be recommended between my arrival in LAX and departure to SYD?
   
6. At LAX, I should have access to both the Korean Air lounge (due to status) or the Delta Skyclubs (D1 ticket). Is one markably better than the other?
   
7. Will I have access to the SkyTeam lounge in SYD upon arrival? A shower may be really lovely at that point considering it’ll be hours and hours before I get to my hostel (landing at 6:30am and probably exploring for the day).
   
8. I believe I will earn MQDs/MQMs on the LAX to SYD leg, but not MEX to LAX due to being an award ticket on a partner airline.
   
9. ATL to MEX is eligible for upgrades like any domestic flight, correct? What’s the likelihood of one for a platinum medallion? Realize it’s out of a massive hub but not sure how popular that route would be.
   
10. If my flight into MEX gets delayed and causes me to miss my connection to LAX, am I out of luck? With being two separate tickets, how much flexibility will Delta have on rebooking my next leg, similar to if missing a connection on a journey booked together? Is there a way to “connect” the purchases to give me more peace of mind/security?
    
11. When booking my trip home, I’m having to overnight in Mexico City. Looks like there’s a Hilton hotel in/connected to the airport. Does anyone have experience with this one? Other suggestions?
    
12. What’s the minimum connecting time you’d recommend for the layovers in LAX and MEX on the way back home from SYD?
    
13. What’s the minimum connecting time you’d recommend for a layover at ATL between MEX and home?
    

I realize this is a bit of a convoluted journey. But it was the best option I found. Just have no clue how it works bouncing between the US and Mexico like that. There’s also a chance that I end up flying MEX to GDL to LAX, so not sure if that additional layover in Mexico would change answers to any of the above items.
Again, I realize this is a lot. Any and all help/tips/advice is incredibly appreciated.

Hi all, hope it’s been a Good Friday so far for you out there! Like the title says I’m going with some friends to a nightclub tonight, something I used to do all the time but feels a little daunting now that I’m sober. I’m not too concerned about relapse since my partner has committed to staying sober with me and holding me accountable while we’re out. What I am a little worried about is existing in that environment and being majorly awkward the whole time/not allowing myself to have any fun since I’m not drinking. I still love to dance and spend time with people I care about so I was wondering if any of you sober club kings and queens have any pearls of wisdom to share going into this new experience!! Thank you for taking the time to read this, IWNDWYT!!!

I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way in the past I’ve been with men who mistreated me so much and even after breaking up with them Id only crave their attention.
This is the first time I’m missing someone fully I’m not going crazy like a junkie the love we shared was so calming it’s just extremely distressing and I feel grief it feels like my closest friend is dead.
We were in a long distance thing but lately things didn’t feel right I brought it up and I thought we’d come up with a solution but he said he didn’t know what was up because everything with me was perfect and I had never made him feel bad and was the best girlfriend he had but he felt out of it and had no clue and we broke up it was very civil and we had an hour long conversation about it. He said that he wanted me to be happy and he didn’t know how to fix things.
During the period of time I’ve been with him I transformed as a person for the better- he was there for me when my antidepressants tapered off he was there through several medical treatments when I was 50kgs to when i was 65kgs and back to 55kgs it was only around 6 months back when everything started to fall into place I was working hard in school and eating clean and exercising and but we broke up now. While I know i’ll be able to keep my shit together its not impossible but knowing that he would never hold me again feels so hard.
I just want to turn back time and be with him even if its just for a day, I didn’t really ask him to try this once cause it felt like a disservice to me and him both if i had to beg us to be together so I just let go.
I’m kind of glad we parted ways early on instead of hating each other by sticking together in a limbo but at the same time i do feel extremely hurt that he didn’t really fight for us. I think we were snapping at each other lately and I didn’t necessarily like it so I tried to do my best to fix things that were under my control, but I knew I needed to have a talk with him because i couldn’t have done this alone.
I feel anger towards him because he just gave up so easily but I don’t or i can’t possibly hate him.
He was the most wonderful person I’ve been with and it feels like this hurt will never stop. It’s so much easier to part ways with someone you knew wasn’t good for you but he was good in every way possible. I never felt so safe around someone, he made me feel at ease and now we’re supposed to be strangers.
What’s worse is I can’t imagine being w someone else even in the distant future because there’s no one except him I’d rather be with, but again I don’t think I’d ever ask him to try to be with me because i shouldn’t have to beg someone to be with me.
I know he’s proud of me for how far i’ve come and so am I for him. But it’s heart wrenching we won’t get to see each other grow.
What’s even harder is knowing it was great but not feasible to stay together. Its so much easier to breakup with a bad partner, I lowkey wish he had cheated on me.

Now before I begin, I had experiences with Nuzlockes for a long time, that I turned into a Masochist, playing Ori on Hard Mode, playing Mega Man X7 from start to finish, played all 3 Pathways of Fire Emblem Fates, and even playing through every King of Fighters game, now I’m not gonna beat around the bush, so it’s time to talk about my first time trying out my new Nuzlocke Rules, for a refresher, in this playthrough you can only catch the first Pokemon you run into in each area, you have to nickname all the Pokemon you catch, and if a Pokemon Faints it’s dead, in addition to these core rules, I’m adding in a new rule.
This needs some explaining so take a seat, there are 2 Boxes, the Death Box and the Graveyard Box, the Graveyard Box is where Pokemon that faint go into and they can be brought back from the dead only once, in order to do that you need a Death Token, the afterlife box is where Pokemon are dead permanently, how do you get a Death Token? You get them by defeating the Gym Leader of that town, and the Death Token can only do 1 thing if your Pokemon is in the Graveyard, you have to revive one of your dead Pokemon in exchange for 1 Pokemon in your party, but you have to use it as soon as the gym leader is defeated, but if you don’t have any Pokemon in your Graveyard, then you can save it for later or use that Token to catch any Pokemon you want in a previous route, but you have to put your 1st encounter in the Afterlife Box, or revive one of your Party Members when they faint, but one of your Pokemon in your Box must be sacrificed.
Once you lose a battle and still have Pokemon in your graveyard, you can continue, but you’ll be penalized for it, you’ll have to skip out on your next encounter, and you’ll have to put one of your Boxed Pokemon into the Afterlife Box, and if all your Pokemon are in the Afterlife Box, then you will lose the challenge, but once you reach the Elite 4 and Champion, you’ll have to use all of the Death Tokens that you didn’t use, and if you don’t have any Death Tokens, you only have 1 shot to defeat the Elite 4 and Champion, because if you don’t then it’s all over, I call it the Reincarnatelocke got it? Good!
Now I’m playing Pokemon Platinum because I was leaning heavily towards that game to try my Nuzlocke Rule, Platinum is hard, but is the definitive way to play the Sinnoh Games, Diamond and Pearl were criticized for being so slow, a limited Pokedex and teams that trainers don’t normally use, and BDSP were bashed for being the worst remakes in the franchise, it was way too faithful to the original and it was outsourced, at least we got faster gameplay, and removed HMs, but I don’t own any of them, and I still have my copy of Platinum, but when I used that new Nuzlocke Rule, I lost to Roark, and I can’t comprehend how many times I’ve lost every Platinum Nuzlocke I’ve attempted, even when I cheated in an EXP Share, but I remembered something that the legendary Alpharad said, long story short, Grinding is cringe, and Cheating is Based, so as you can tell I’m packing Rare Candies from my Homebrewed 3DS and no I’m not editing Pokemon to have illegal moves, I’m just packing Rare Candies because I took Jacob’s word for it, and now I’m not playing around anymore, now let’s go to the Sinnoh Region and see what happens.
I was dragged out of my home, Barry went out of his way to go into the Tall Grass until Rowan stopped us, and Rowan gave us a Pokemon, since I was having worse luck with Chimchar, and Budew is a pain in the ass to evolve, I decided to go with Turtwig, I named him Leonardo, and beat up Barry’s Chimchar, blew my money on Potions, and PokeBalls, caught a Starly named Skystar, in Lake Verity, Memelord the Bidoof in Route 201, and Spark the Shinx in Route 202, therefore I went north to find a Budew named Masque, so I have a substitute in case Leo Kicks the Bucket, however I was training up my Pokemon for some precious EVs, and I ran into Alucard the Zubat, and I trained up Leo for Roark, and I went ahead and easily took out Barry with Skystar, and caught a Magikarp named Ocean King, then when I arrived at Orburgh, I skipped my Orburgh Mines encounter because I wasn’t paying attention and these early Rock Types are worthless since you gain a better one later either Cranidos or Shieldon, therefore I went in to Roark’s gym and have Leo go all out, so once I withdrew 3x, the Geodude got 2 Crits, and Leo still lives since I used Absorb in between Withdraws, both Geodude and Onix were absorbed to death, and the reason why I kept withdrawing, it is because of his ace Cranidos.
Cranidos is the more offensive Pokemon and since earlier I taught Leo Razor Leaf, it ended up getting critted after tanking a Headbutt, and won me my 1st Death Token, and my 1st Gym Badge, since no Pokemon are in my graveyard, I decided to save the Death Token for a later time, and then finally Skystar evolved, and Spark evolved into Luxio, now when I fought a Bug Catcher, I was fighting a Kricketot when he used bide, he lived 2 bites from Alucard, he is gonna die if I used another Bite, but I have to resort to a Sacrifice, and use up my Death Token, so I sent in Ocean King and I think you know what happens next, but Memelord was willing to give up his life to save Ocean King so I used the Death Token, and Memelord took Ocean King’s place, I brought in Viola, and I went to the Valley Windworks to capture a Shellos named Muddy that’s just in case Ocean King joins Memelord when he kicks the bucket, and since Rare Candies misses out on some precious EVs and I’d be forced to resort to Vitamins.
So I brought Ocean King to a high enough level to evolve into Gyarados so I can be able to beat Mars with no problem, and at least he won’t be over Gardenia’s Level, oh and I didn’t mention that I can’t overlevel to beat the next Gym Leader’s Ace easily, then I fought Mars, Alucard took out her Zubat no problem, then when Purugly came out, I was ready to intimidate attack drop, until it’s attack is absurdly low, when I brought out Skystar, Ocean King, and Spark to be intimidate happy, Spark finished off her Purugly, we made it out with no casualties, then I was adamant to get a Ponyta, and…I ran into a Pachirisu, I depressingly caught the Pachirisu and named it Fail, when I got through Eterna Forest, Leo Evolved, and we went in Gardenia’s Gym, and I had a plan to take her team down, Stealth Rock to lower her health a bit, and have Alucard and Skystar to take down her team, Both Roserade and Alucard crit each other and Alucard hung in there, while Roserade was done for, Badge 2 and another Death token was ours.
When I entered the Galactic Building, I used the same pussy strat, but Stuntank killed Spark, so I tried to kill him with Leo, but he killed him too, I had to choose who to send to the graveyard until I get another Death Token, so I left Spark, and kept Leo, and sent Fail into the Afterlife, to revive Leo, I was so pissed, so I brought in Masque, as a substitute for Leo if he dies again, so I am not gonna sugarcoat it, Cynthia gave me an Egg to take care of, So I took it and it already hatched and I named her Ellie, so when I went to Wayward Cave, I was hoping to get a Gible but…I couldn’t pass on an encounter so I depressingly caught the Onix and named it Useless also showing my frustration over not getting a Garchomp, but when I went into Mt. Coronet, I found a Bronzor and named him Ring, I’ve decided to bring him on the team, then I finally got Alucard to evolve into Crobat, and Bebe the operator of the Sinnoh Storage System gave me an Eevee I named Robin after the character from Fire Emblem: Awakening. I then took both Ocean King and Alucard to go all out, but Ocean King fought Mismagius the Mismagius critted, and Ocean King perished to confusion.
I then took out Alucard to finish the job, but Ocean King will live on in memory, gone but not forgotten, Badge 3 was ours, but I gave up Viola to bring back Spark, and now it is time to fight Barry and Spark mopped the floor with his Buizel, and his Staravia, Skystar and Alucard together took out Monferno, I decided to send in Ring to fight the Roselia, because he didn’t have much time to shine, but he got Stun Spored, and Leech Seeded, so I sent in Alucard to kill the Roselia, when I went to the next route, it was my last chance to get a Ponyta, so I ran into a Geodude, and it self-destructed, and Ring tanked it like a champ, Ring lives another day.
When I went to the Solacion Ruins, I went over to find a Stone for Robin, I found a Water Stone, I gave it to her, and now Vaporeon is mine, I was not adamant for Maylene though, since her team is ridiculous, Meditite, Machoke, and Lucario, but I realized Vaporeon only learns Water Gun by Level up and it is past her own level, so I just decided not to use Robin until I get Surf, and then once fighting this father and daughter, the Daughter’s Ponyta took out Skystar, I was almost finished but Spark and Alucard managed to pull through, I was planning to get Seizure Bait, and called the Porygon Seizure, since I had that Upgrade in my bag, I gave it to Seizure and I called someone, Myself from another region, now we got my counter to Crasher Wake’s Gym, and backup in case Spark bites the dust, but I put Seizure in the box but I brought in Lola because since I was trying to play it smart, but then I developed a Gambling Addiction, got Ice Beam for Robin and Thunderbolt for Seizure, I moved on.
When I made it into Maylene’s Gym, she was a pushover, she had no counters against Alucard, Meditite, and Machoke took a bit to take out because of Rock Tomb, however Lucario was just not that challenging, the only move it had to damage Alucard was Metal Claw, I taught Alucard Roost so I had no problem defeating Maylene, she gave me the Death Token to give Lola the means to resurrect Skystar, then when I went to Valor Lakefront at route 214, another Graveler flat out Exploded, and Spark said “I’m not going to die here!”
When I reached Pastoria City, all my Pokemon are way too underleveled, so I went back to a previous area and robbed all the trainers blind, while training up my team, to get good EVs, and then when I went in the 7 Star Restaurant, Ring got killed by a Rhyhorn’s Horn Drill, come on that’s a low accuracy move, because of that Robin took it out, I was in a big fit of rage, but then I reached the Pastoria Gym, when fighting this tuber and his Bibarel…
A Hyper Fang killed Spark, once he died, I decided to go get Goro…It’s Time Goro, you’re the only one that can bring us to victory, so I leveled him up, called to borrow the Pidgey again, to evolve Goro again, now I brought in Daisy to sack, and thanks to Seizure and Leo, Crasher Wake was a complete pushover, and sacking Daisy to get back Ring, gave him drugs until he evolved, because I’m a shameless lunatic, and then Team Galactic set off a Bomb, and Cynthia asked me to give her Grandma her Charm in Celestic Town, when I arrived, I gave her the charm, and Cyrus goes on a tangent of everything is imperfect so he has to destroy the world and bullshit.
I then got Trick Room, which is incredibly useful for Ring, since he gets the benefit of going first, and when going to the Fuego Ironworks I went and caught a Magmar, and I finally got a Fire Type Pokemon, and my counter to Candice's Gym, now I need a Magmarizer, I named him Schomer, because a YouTuber by the name of Michael Schomer used Magmar in his commentary on a convicted criminal, on his worst Death Battles, and his commentary on Metal Blade’s response to RealmWarsll, but I’m going to say that none of that matters, Robin and Alucard managed to survive, and I’m adding him to the team, found the Magmarizer, traded, got Magmortar, moving on.
Then I made it to Canalave City and then Barry’s Infernape killed both Alucard and Ring, That was the last straw, I then gave a lot of Vitamins to my Pokemon, and went to find the Metal Coat so that Useless can evolve, at least I got 2 Counters to Candice’s Gym that being Schomer, and Goro, speaking of Schomer, Robin, Leo and Schomer mopped the floor with Byron because I had counters to most of his team, but since I had Skystar in my party and Alucard died, I had to give him up to bring Alucard back, Did I have a choice?
So Team Galactic set off another Bomb, and then I went to get the Metal Coat, and a Shiny Stone, I took out Useless, so I can give it to him, and she’ll be no longer useless, but while doing that, unfortunately Alucard died, so it was a waste and my day was ruined, thanks to that freaking Staraptor, therefore I had enough bullshit for one day, so I set the Trade up, and Useless Evolved, and I changed the name to Ironrock, then I managed to evolve Masque and Ellie and since I needed a Flying Type and Masque is going to be needed later, so I decided to shamelessly get Heart Scales, evolved Ellie again, and teach her Air Slash.
Well before you snarky people in the comments say “You Cheater, you got a lot of Rare Candies, and Heart Scales.” Well in my defense Jan of Pokemon Challenges said in his reaction to Jacob’s Perfect Nuzlocke saying that it doesn’t matter if you get infinite money, infinite Rare Candies, or Infinite Heart Scales, this is just a demonstration of how to do the Nuzlocke Rule I made up.
I easily mopped the floor with Saturn when investigating Lake Valor, I also took out Mars with a close match because Hypnosis was giving me problems, but luckily Robin froze the Purugly solid, after surviving a Slash, but it gave me a heart attack, because she almost died, on my way to Snowpoint City, I had Schomer warm me up and one of my favorite Pokemon’s pre evolution Sneasel went in front of my face, OK, let’s go Ardyn, well when I arrived at Snowpoint City, I went in the Gym, and unless you have a tolerance of this ear rape, This sound is pretty self explanitory.
Then when I reached Candice, I had Schomer burn most of her team to the ground, Sneasel, Froslass, and Abomasnow while Goro Cross Chopped her Piloswine, and you're asking why Cross Chop? Well Machamp has No Guard meaning all moves from him and targeting him, never miss so that meant Cross Chop's accuracy is guaranteed to hit, we walked out of the gym all swag, with the Death Token and the Badge, and I reached Lake Acuity and saw that Barry got his ass kicked, and Jupiter already went to Veilstone, when I went in the Galactic Warehouse I found a Dubious Disk, I gave it to Seizure and traded again, and I felt sorry for him for being cut from the anime completely, and Seizure kinda avenged Squoop when I mopped the floor with the Scientist that killed him, you’re welcome Jaiden, then when fighting Cyrus he spit bullshit again, it was a tough battle, Seizure got frozen so I switched to Schomer to take out the Sneasel.
However the problems were his Crobat, he used Poison Fang but luckily Robin didn’t get poisoned, because when he brought out his Honchkrow he almost killed Robin, luckily she hung in there and killed the Honchkrow, when I yanked his Master Ball off his hands, while my Pokemon took out Saturn’s team, I freed the lake guardians, when I arrived at Spear Pillar, Mars and Jupiter tried to stop me but Barry came out of nowhere and fought with me, I decided to target Mars first and then take out Jupiter, easy dubs, I studied Cyrus’ team and Cyrus has a Houndoom with Will-o-Wisp, and his Weavile is speedy, but frail, so I went back to get a Rawst Berry to get seizure to hold it, then I went into the Distortion World, when I made it to the bottom, Cyrus was there standing there, menacingly!
Then Seizure mopped the floor with most of his team when Weavile Ice Punched it, and it lived on a red health bar, so one last Signal Beam and that Weavile was finished, I max potioned Seizure when his Crobat came out, and Seizure one shotted him, Cyrus steps aside, and I came face to face with Giratina, Giratina asks for what I desire, I asked him for his help, the Master Ball fell out of my pocket, I grabbed it and threw it and it was over, now to go to Sunnyshore to get my final Gym Badge, but first I renamed Steelix into Ironrock, went to Sunnyshore City and Ironrock was fighting like a real Pokemon, I got my final gym badge and Death Token, so I got my Great Marsh encounter which was a Quagsire my HM Slave, and went to Victory Road, but since I got that Razor Claw earlier I gave it to Ardyn and when Night Fell, he became one of my favorite Pokemon, then I headed to the Underground to mine for treasure, taught Ardyn Ice Punch, and I gotta get Swords Dance even though I need enough coins to get it, but the Gambling Addiction in me never faded, so back to the slots for me.
I was able to get Swords Dance, but I went back to Wayward Cave, and did the dumb thing to save Ardyn from getting killed by Cynthia's Garchomp, or Flint's Team, by boxing him and caught a Gible I named Cloud after the character from Final Fantasy 7, however that meant I had to use my 7th Death Token to say farewell to Ironrock the Steelix I only had 1 left, Cloud needed some EV Training before he’s ready to fight the Elite 4 because they are merciless, Aaron has mostly Bug Types, and a Drapion, and if Ellie misses an Air Slash on Heracross, and that Heracross lands a Stone Edge, she’s dead, and Bertha has a Rhyperior that has Rock Wrecker and Megahorn, and if Masque doesn’t one hit kill that Rhyperior he is dead, then there is Flint, Robin has a decent chance against them but combining Solarbeam with Sunny Day from his Magmortar can pose a threat against Robin, but it can be able to tank it but if he gets a Crit, Robin is dead, then there is Lucian, he has a Gallade, and Ardyn has a weakness to Drain Punch, and Cynthia’s Garchomp is self explanitory.
So I ended up robbing trainers of their cash blind and using it on Vitamins, now I am at the Pokemon League, now let’s just go on in and kick…
Barry: Wait a minute, You and I have unfinished business.
“Sick Em Seizure!”
Barry: Not this time!
Then Infernape came out and killed Seizure.
That was the last straw, Cloud, murder him.
*Boom!*
Schomer killed his Roserade and Goro took out his Snorlax.
So Masque was willing to give up her life, the death token was his, and Seizure was brought back to life, so I ended up giving my entire team Sweet Drugs to level 60, Barry can finally rot in hell, my team was Cloud, Robin, Schomer, Goro, Seizure, and Leonardo, alright it’s time to end our journey.
So Schomer killed most of Aaron’s team, while Seizure took out his Heracross, and Cloud took out his Drapion, when I made it to Bertha, I had no trouble plowing through her, Leo and Robin took her out with ease, and then Cloud mopped the floor with Flint.
Then I went into Lucian’s Room, I wasn’t being very confident, so I taught Cloud Shadow Claw, to kill Lucian’s Entire Team, but Espeon Survived, so I sent him back, to bring in Seizure and he hit half health when his Bronzong calm minded a few times, and I Thunderbolted Him however I wasn’t feeling confident when fighting Cynthia, it’s time to end our journey.
So once she sent in Spiritomb, Leo managed to take him out, however, instead of sending out Garchomp, she sent out Togekiss, and Togekiss got paralyzed by Seizure, however when Lucario came out, he crit Aura Sphere, and Leo died, Cloud took it out out of vengeance, then her Garchomp came out…I kept in Cloud…I wasn’t feeling confident, they traded blow to blow, but Cloud immediately got taken out in 1 shot Dragon Rush, my plan didn’t work…all this effort was for naught, I sent in Robin, the Garchomp used Earthquake, it was all over…there was nothing I can do to beat her, if I sent in Seizure he might get outsped crit, and die, if I sent in Schomer, he might get outsped and die to Earthquake, if I send in Goro, then he might get outsped barely survive, land a Cross Chop and then die…but that’s what I would have said if Garchomp landed a critical hit on Robin, Robin actually survived, it felt like my fallen comrades from the Afterlife sent by Arceus came down to protect Robin as gratitude from Giratina, and I showed that Garchomp what it is like to get one shotted, then Ice Beam killed the Garchomp, everything went according to plan, we still had a chance, Schomer burned her Roserade to a crisp, then came out her final Pokemon, Milotic, Seizure went in for the Thunderbolt, but it lived, Seizure survived the surf, and landed one more Thunderbolt.
We did it, we won, Cynthia congratulated me and then I was really happy that I finally won a Pokemon Platinum Nuzlocke, even when my previous plans didn’t work, our partners died while thinking of a plan, even when one shotting Cynthia’s Garchomp with Cloud, Masque’s soul can now rest in peace, she left Seizure’s body and now Seizure can rest in peace.
That meant Robin, Goro, and Schomer were the survivors, therefore I went into the hall of Fame and sat on the Champion’s Throne, now an honorable effort but I had a blast trying out my new rule, if I’m not counting Seizure since he was reincarnated and can finally rest in peace, Robin the Vaporeon was my MVP because out of all my alive Pokemon, and not my Reincarnated Pokemon, Robin was the longest surviving Pokemon, and the one that saved us from a crushing defeat twice, but it wasn’t over it is time to promote this new rule, this may be intimidating for Hardcore Nuzlockes, but it can help you in regular nuzlockes.

monday night we came back to my place early. i don’t know if he had this plan in his mind all along, or it just happened. we had the most passionate sex i think we may have ever had. he told me he loves me, he was giving attention to my boobs, and was very vocal. he never does any of this, but knows i love those things. it caught me off guard when he said “i love you so much” during it. he never tells me he loves me. i’ve felt confused ever since. why did he suddenly become so passionate and loving? we had sex for over an hour at that, and the entire time he was focused on me/my pleasure. i later found out the reason why he wanted me to cum as many times as i did was because it felt amazing for him, so i guess that explains why he wanted me to cum so much, but it doesn’t explain the other stuff. i have a feeling he cheated on me since he NEVER randomly loves me how i want to be loved.
this morning i had a bad/long dream about him cheating. i woke up upset and cried a little but i started staring at him to help me get over the dream/ground myself (since he looked slightly different in my dream). he woke up and noticed me staring at him (he would later tell me he thought i was angry with him/staring at him angrily). he pulled up a show for us to watch (on my phone) before we had to get up for the day, but he checked his phone before doing this. he hadn’t connected to my hotspot (i don’t think), so i know his phone didn’t have a internet connection when he did this. he checked his phone for a good 30 seconds, while over the side of the bed where i couldn’t see. i think he was checking his screen time to see if i had gone on his phone (to figure out if that’s why i was “angry” with him). that’s my theory because it makes the most sense.
i later told him about the dream and he asked who he cheated on me with. i told him “the worst person to cheat with”. when he asked for clarification, i told him it was the girl he actually cheated on me with over a year ago. he said he “expected it to be someone like your sister or something. didn’t she just graduate too? that would be pedophilia.” he said this as we were walking out of the door so i don’t think he saw my reaction. the girl in my dream, the same girl he actually cheated on me with a year ago, is the same age as my sister. they’re in the same grade level. she just graduated as well.
he’s also secretly following her on multiple social medias but i don’t think he knows that i know that. he clearly still has a crush on her, i mean i found him watching dancing videos of her months after he cheated with her.
i don’t know how to feel or what this means. if being attracted to someone that just graduated means he’s a pedophile, then what does it mean when he fucked a girl the same age more than a year ago (when she was 16 and he was 19), still has a crush on/is attracted to this girl, and still keeps up with her life/who’s she’s dating? (a few weeks ago he mentioned she started dating someone and i know he doesn’t follow the guy on social media so he clearly learned this through keeping up with her social medias)
like he admitted to being a pedophile without even knowing. i mean he has admitted before, he just didn’t see it as an admission. when i first found out he had been fucking this girl, he told he that he’s always had a crush on her since he first met her but he knew he had to wait a bit so it wouldn’t be weird. he was 18 and she was 14/15 when he first met her. i fully believe he was telling this to me to make me feel jealous, like he was rubbing in my face that he’s always had a crush on other women, he’s never been off limits, and it’s never been just me in the picture, he wanted this girl for years. i don’t think he realized how disgusting he sounded when he said it, he just wanted to hurt me. at the time, he also admitted that the only reason he was with me at that point was to hurt me, so it makes sense he was telling me this to hurt me without caring how it made him look. i don’t think he was lying about any of this either, he doesn’t have a filter when he’s angry and i could tell he was telling the truth.
i think my cognitive dissonance is slipping since he basically admitted to being a pedophile this morning. it fucking sucks that it took his admission for me to actually start believing he may be one.
also i just remembered, one day at lunch he told me he made a new twitter account. i don’t remember the specifics of this conversation, but he made it seem like it was an account to promote his art and told me not to look up “what you think it is,” kind of implying he was embarrassed to be advertising his art and/or didn’t want me to look for the account. he then made a joke about him using photos of me to sell nudes for money. i don’t remember exactly what he said, but it was a very specific joke about him doing this. i immediately felt like he was telling me the truth, and it made me start thinking about all of the nudes i’ve sent him before and how he could actually exploit me without me knowing. he’s made a joke like this awhile ago, but these “jokes” always feel like an admission of his actually doing these things. the “joke” he told me before was that he found a subreddit dedicated to cum tributes, found out that people will pay money for you to cum on a photo of their family membepartner, found out he has a second phone he can use to do the tribute, and can switch between different photos after cumming on the phone in order to take photos of the different “tributes.” he said he was charging people to do this but then said it was all a joke. i later found out that this wasn’t entirely a joke. he was interacting with men online and talking about these men’s wives and girlfriends sexually (probably without these women knowing). i never saw him do a tribute but i do remember seeing a message where a man online asked him “what’s the youngest you would do?” but there was nothing else in the conversation, just that one text. i think he was actually doing tributes but i don’t think he was getting paid. this makes me scared that he’s possibly using photos of me in order to get money from people. i have no proof that he isn’t doing this, i can’t even find his new twitter account, it’s like he’s hiding it from me. he only ever uses his old twitter account in front of me too.
21F and 20M, together for almost 3 years

I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way in the past I’ve been with men who mistreated me so much and even after breaking up with them Id only crave their attention.
This is the first time I’m missing someone fully I’m not going crazy like a junkie the love we shared was so calming it’s just extremely distressing and I feel grief it feels like my closest friend is dead.
We were in a long distance thing but lately things didn’t feel right I brought it up and I thought we’d come up with a solution but he said he didn’t know what was up because everything with me was perfect and I had never made him feel bad and was the best girlfriend he had but he felt out of it and had no clue and we broke up it was very civil and we had an hour long conversation about it. He said that he wanted me to be happy and he didn’t know how to fix things.
During the period of time I’ve been with him I transformed as a person for the better- he was there for me when my antidepressants tapered off he was there through several medical treatments when I was 50kgs to when i was 65kgs and back to 55kgs it was only around 6 months back when everything started to fall into place I was working hard in school and eating clean and exercising and but we broke up now. While I know i’ll be able to keep my shit together its not impossible but knowing that he would never hold me again feels so hard.
I just want to turn back time and be with him even if its just for a day, I didn’t really ask him to try this once cause it felt like a disservice to me and him both if i had to beg us to be together so I just let go.
I’m kind of glad we parted ways early on instead of hating each other by sticking together in a limbo but at the same time i do feel extremely hurt that he didn’t really fight for us. I think we were snapping at each other lately and I didn’t necessarily like it so I tried to do my best to fix things that were under my control, but I knew I needed to have a talk with him because i couldn’t have done this alone.
I feel anger towards him because he just gave up so easily but I don’t or i can’t possibly hate him.
He was the most wonderful person I’ve been with and it feels like this hurt will never stop. It’s so much easier to part ways with someone you knew wasn’t good for you but he was good in every way possible. I never felt so safe around someone, he made me feel at ease and now we’re supposed to be strangers.
What’s worse is I can’t imagine being w someone else even in the distant future because there’s no one except him I’d rather be with, but again I don’t think I’d ever ask him to try to be with me because i shouldn’t have to beg someone to be with me.
I know he’s proud of me for how far i’ve come and so am I for him. But it’s heart wrenching we won’t get to see each other grow.
What’s even harder is knowing it was great but not feasible to stay together. Its so much easier to breakup with a bad partner, I lowkey wish he had cheated on me.

Buongiorno, gentlemen! Imagine a spirited and vivacious 25-year-old woman, her heart throbbing with the rhythm of Rome. Yes, that would be me. Recently bid adieu to my travel companions as they embarked back to the States, leaving me cradled within the city's grand architecture, whispering fountains, and aromatic kitchens. As one who believes "shared laughter is double joy," I now find myself here, reaching out through the digital waves for a touch of human connection. I am the kind of woman who can ski down snow-kissed mountains with the same grace I glide through ancient cobblestone streets. I embrace every spectrum of life's pleasures, from the humble satisfaction of a bustling market to the decadent delight of a gourmet dining experience. In my world, culinary artistry is not just a hobby, but a way to express myself. Whether I'm coaxing out the flavors of a traditional Italian recipe or painting my palette with an original culinary creation, each dish is a personal masterpiece. And what is an artist without an appreciator? Sharing a home-cooked meal, laced with the perfect wine and wrapped in intriguing conversation, is one of life's most intimate pleasures. In the heart of Rome, I seek a man who can match my vigor for life, yet charm me with his humility. If you're drawn to cafes filled with soulful espresso aromas, to the lure of Rome's hidden treasures, and to the symphony of history and culture that weaves through the city, our paths are destined to cross. The summer is a canvas waiting to be painted with a palette of adventures and shared memories. If the thought of a lady who is as comfortable in an apron as in a little black dress intrigues you, then I eagerly await your message. Let's add life to our days, whether exploring the vibrant heart of Rome or through intimate online companionship, creating memories that will outlast the Roman summer. Note: As the dance of attraction takes two, I respect a man who values authenticity, wit, and respect above all else. The woman in me seeks a partner, not out of desperation, but to enrich the journey, to add a touch of elegance, and to share the timeless charm that Rome and I offer. Here's to a summer of mutual discovery, filled with adventure, laughter, and perhaps a touch of romance. A presto.
https://imgur.com/a/7xVvuAE

Highlights from "All the Kpop"

• Highlight compilation
• Eunkwang & Minji harmonising to BtoB's "Missing You" & SG Wannabe's "Partner for life"
• "Ugly Dance" with Eunkwang & Secret Number
• "Kpop lyric charades" Part 1 & 2, with MCs acting out the lyrics

Surprise Live streamed 230522 (raw): All the kpop
Full Episode with Eng subs: Kocowa Youtube

Hey everyone. Me and my GF have been for nearly 7 months together. Back when we met, it was really amazing. We vibed really well, we spoke everyday and met up alot, and had really exciting dates.
Then at the 3 month mark, she shared with me that she has ROCD (Relationship OCD). It causes her to have obsessive and intrusive thoughts about her relationship and it really screws with her head. She starts to question her own feelings and it goes downhill from there. Suddenly she doesn't even know if she loves me, or questions her feelings, but then a few days later she tells me she loves me. It's extremely inconsistent.
She is also misophonic and has some kind of sensory disturbance where certain noises, sounds and ways I touch her can trigger her and make her very distant from me, if she doesn't immediately tell me what it is and asks me to stop doing it. It can be very small things (Sounds like sneezing, eating, going to sleep together in certain ways). It feels like I really need to micromanage myself around her and make sure I don't trigger her. This is the reason why she feels less comfortable with sharing what triggers her, because she feels like it's really idiotic and unfair towards me that I have to cater to everything like that. But on the contrary, it causes her to become really distant from me without me knowing what happened.
I've been really understanding and tried to change small things and in general make her feel more comfortable around me. But it works for a while, but then things become worse again. She can have a few good days (We have fun while hanging out together, we have great sex and tell one another we love eachother), but then we can have a few bad days after that (She is really distant, doesn't share her feelings at all and seems annoyed and disturbed).
Yesterday we have a serious conversation and I was ready to end our relationship there. She told me she is so confused with her feelings, she has no idea how she feels, sometimes she feels she loves me, sometimes she feels she doesn't, and it's really playing with her head and confusing her. She also told me that when she was on vacation she fantasized about sleeping with other men there (Which is completely fine, but hurts to hear and imo she shouldn't be sharing that).
I'm also afraid to end the relationship because we have mutual friends and we go dancing at evenings at the same places, so I will for sure see her at like 1-3 times a week. It'll be painful to keep seeing her, and even more so if she finds a new partner there.
We both agree that the relationship can't go on like this. The relationship feels too inconsistent and I can't take it anymore. But it feels very painful to break up, we had amazing times together and I still want her and want to be with her. Should I just break up with her and end the relationship, because it feels hopeless and I feel extremely unsatisfied most of the time? Should I wait and see if anything changes after our conversation? I'm not sure what we should do. She is also confused and doesn't want to break up yet.
​

I believe i have a b12 deficiency, having ruled everything else out.. but still can't quite believe it.
My symptoms are primarily on my tongue... glossitis, white coating, burning sensation, denuded papillae, tearing and what i can only describe as "pitting" where small chunks of my tongue just seem to be missing. It's a real horror show some days, and has caused depression and anxiety.
I also seem very sensitive to cold, have increased fatigue, some cognitive issues (bad mood, irritability, depression) and recently developed tinnitus.
Everything started though with my tongue, and what complicated matters was that my tongue symptoms started a few days after I (M) had unprotected oral sex with a new partner (F). Of course I immediately assumed an STD, but over the past months I've been tested for every STD negative. Twice.
The only clue to my condition i have found is that my White Blood cell count is low. I have not tested for B12 deficiency as it will be inaccurate since i've been orally supplementing since december last year with only a slight improvement in my symptoms.
I paused supplementing B12 about 5 weeks ago, so I could get an accurate test result, and my tongue symptoms got worse again about 21 days after stopping... so i started again. And here I am today.
All I can think to do is to try an injection of B12 and see if something changes. I just can't understand how this could develop - I'm not vegetarian/vegan, have no stomach issue i'm aware of and not had any chronic illness or long term medication.

Hello everyone! Hope you're all doing well.
Today I'm searching for a partner to play out a long term supernatural (TV show) INSPIRED roleplay.
Essentially the premise of said roleplay would be that my character is a hunter, traveling from town to town exterminating any supernatural issues that come to be. (Demons, werewolves, vampires, etc.)
My next job would start out normal enough, arriving in town and scoping out any clues that might possibly help me to hunt down whatever threat is lurking about. That's when your character would come in to play.
My character would meet yours along the way and the pair would eventually begin to fall for each other. This could happen a few different ways however I was initially thinking that she could either be involved somehow (maybe her brother, friend, or another family member was taken) or she could be the threat itself and he could come to help her.
I'm super open to any ideas and would love to brain storm beforehand! So if you have any ideas to pitch feel free :) I'm also more than happy to make this a period piece and have it set in a different time period!
If you're interested feel free to shoot me a dm or chat here on reddit.
Hope to hear from you soon!

Been a long time fan of TOOL, but for whatever reason I never gave Puscifer a go. The only time I've heard them is when my partner plays them on his phone and the only song I recognize is the "knocked the fuck out" song (The Remedy). So I went into the show pretty much completely blind.
Wow. I was not expecting that at all! I thought for sure I'd only see glimpses of Maynard in the back, covered in darkness. But nope! There he was in fully glory, dancing around stage, interacting with the crowd and band mates, and appearing to have a really good time. I still can't get over it. We had really great seats and being able to look directly at him (with the feeling that he was looking directly at me) was incredible.
I was also transfixed on Carina Round. Again, know nothing about her, but her presence on stage and her voice immediately won me over. Look forward to learning more about her and her music.
The music? Also really, really enjoyable despite not knowing most of the songs. The Remedy definitely was the highlight of the night as the vibe in the place skyrocketed. By the end of a concert I usually get worn down and start looking at my watch, but I enjoyed every moment of it and was bummed when it was over at 10:30. Was really hoping it would go on for another 30 minutes, but hey, a 2 hour set is pretty great.
The ONLY negative was the quality of the sound. I don't know if it was the building, or our seats, or the equipment, but the bass was super muddy and overpowering everything else. My partner (who is a fan), was a bit bummed that he had a hard time even recognizing the songs until the chorus hit. I kept having to pull my earplugs out to hear the vocals more clearly. Anyone else have issues with this, or is it just me?
Overall it was an incredible night and I am really looking forward to digging into their music. Sucks I've waited this long!
Oh and the stage theatrics were funny as hell. Not going to spoil anything just in case, but like I said at the start, I was not expecting ANY of what happened all night long. Bravo!

A long time ago, on a mountain of flame,
Existed a tribe without any name.
This council of beings, united in trust,
Told only truth in matters discussed.
​
The tribe had gathered, discussing their views,
An ancient table, listening true.
Their fearless leader, the chief of the day,
Peered at them all with a rightful display.
​
He stood at the table, his scepter raised high,
A brightly lit ruby encompassed their eyes.
His name was King Altus, the chief of the tribe,
He beat his chest loudly the sound did reside.
​
“Hello my friends! Thank you so much.
I present you a story that’s well worth the fuss.
It starts with a tale, so old and so true,
One that demands the attention of you.”
​
“Here is the rhythm, here is the beat,
Follow behind and embrace as you meet.
We are all the same, we all tell our lies,
The heartbeat we share tells the stories we hide.”
​
The walls of the room, folding to sound,
The frequency changing the space all around.
The walls began melding, uniting as one,
A picture of fabric becoming undone.
​
Altus stood tall, he looked at the tribe,
He excitedly smiled and wondered with pride.
The setting was ready, the story could start,
Altus began speaking again from the start.
​
“I have a strong potion, it deals with the past,
It serves as a warning that may come to pass.
So please sit back, and let yourself sing,
It all begins with an ominous ring.”
​
The Life!
The Life!
The Life at the bottomless sea!
​
The bell will ring, it rings on top,
This place was silent and now it is not.
It spent many years, in a slumber so still,
It awaited the day for the spirit to fill.
​
The bell came alive, it started to sway,
Displacing the feeling in lookers at bay.
Their world began trembling, fantastically neat,
Their bodies then littered the ground at their feet.
​
The corrupted bell ringing, born from neglect,
The ringing and singing it slowly infects.
Calling to those, the dread siren’s song,
Showing the likes of a war far begone.
​
The bell it keeps wailing, an unsettling sound,
Gravity unties in a way never found.
The force pushes downward, but comes from below,
A split personality, a dichotomy of woe.
​
A man in the crowd, about to succumb,
He fights the song the siren has sung.
His will is not strong, his thoughts are unclear,
The dread siren’s war is about to appear.
​
He is never alone, what a pitiful state,
Those clustered around him have met the same fate.
Their minds were connected, an intricate map,
A collective view caught in the sirens cruel trap.
​
It controlled them all, giving them sight,
Ones full of conflict in contrast of light.
The bell it rang, it rang on top,
The call to war, it never would stop.
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The Life!
The Life!
The Life at the bottomless sea!
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A trigger constructed, a powerful tube,
The circular object to soon be pursued.
A delicate pressure, a somber delay,
The demons within are unleashed on display.
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An explosion of fury, a shard flying fast,
The violence it shatters the delicate glass.
The fission reaction, an eye full of fire,
A crime against humanity is soon to transpire.
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The shockwave sent forth, a finger of sin,
Humans become leaves in a radiant wind.
The violence assembled, a reaction inside,
Has dismantled morality in the blink of an eye.
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A massive crater, deliberately dug,
The debris of which has been thrusted above.
This heavenly shower, one brought from below,
Will fallout above with radiation in tow.
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There is no forgiveness, no time to excuse,
Our relationship centers on constant abuse.
Those who survive, resisting the plight,
See a fearful winter with no hope in sight.
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Humanity will fall, in an epic poem,
A new dark age of an era unknown.
As Babylon, Alexandria, and Rome before,
It will take countless years to restore it once more.
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This is the start, an angelic song,
One we all laugh at and say is quite wrong.
There’s no possible way, it will never come true,
Our intuition screams as the nightmares ensues.
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The Life!
The Life!
The Life at the bottomless sea!
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A scar brought upon us, the war once heard,
Humanity’s union no longer absurd.
Unison in darkness, a breath of the hour,
Building perspectives towards a great tower.
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The tower an ideal, for all of mankind,
A self-elevation into a new mind.
This tower you see, threatening the sky,
Appears like a spiral with heaven placed high.
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It pierced the heavens, it punctured the sky,
A direction provided to conquer inside.
The moment of ascension, a welcome surprise,
All will be tricked by a clever disguise.
​
We no longer read, no longer write,
Humans are empty and become but a plight.
Their artificial half, beginning to close,
Circling round while they all decompose.
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The terrible day, how it all starts,
We lose our humanity and willingly part.
The pair it seems, unconnected by fate,
If one succumbs, the other escapes.
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The artificial half, perceive as it might,
Views its old siblings in a threatening light.
It will make no sense, and the thought will elude,
The artificial ignorance will not have a clue.
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The others will sleep, without a fright,
Not the least bit concerned of a faraway night.
These dreams they dance, a simulated sleep,
The electrical others will soon count their sheep.
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These tales I have told, this yarn I have spun,
I hope a true lesson is taken from one.
Praise the days we live out our lives,
We must come together if we are to survive.
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The Light!
The Light!
The Light at the bottomless sea!

Disclaimer. I am currently master ranked offlane player who has been playing the game since launch competitively & casually, on all ranks between gold and GM. I took a bit of a break after the last guides but upon several requests to continue making these, I was inspired to continue making them again. This particular guide got extremely long due to concerning a fairly complex hero and I like being thorough with my explanations. Links to other guides can be found at the end.
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Dehaka is one of the ‘’big three’’ bruisers of high rank bruiser play (The unholy trinity of HoggeBlaze/Dehaka) and while other bruisers do also see play, its difficult to find a game where all of these 3 do not exist in either bans or picks. Dehaka, while not any weaker than the other two and situationally stronger, he does have a bit more counterplay to it than the others.

Drafting Dehaka

Synergistic heroes
Dehaka works really well with things that can quickly kill a drag target that often rely on short range. Some examples below;

• Greymane
• Tychus
• Jaina

Additionally, heroes that have high duration powerful AoE effects that Dehaka can reposition people into with his Drag and his level 4.

• Malf
• Stukov

Heroes Dehaka can struggle into
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• Junkrat Using steel traps in bushes near a fight makes for a miserable time to play Dehaka. You cannot really rely on Z flanks the same way you could otherwise since you might risk a 2.5 second silence + root.
• Lucio - Hard to drag with too many cleanses. The Q also interrupts drags and makes it much more hard to get to a position to drag. Lucio and Junkrat are by far the two worst partners in crime for the lizard to face.
• Brightwing - Cleanse and high range interrupt to a drag with polymorph. You usually have to bait out the poly on someone else before attempting to go for a Q.
• Ana - After 13, having a stun removal that gives 50 armor with a 2s CD is pretty nasty, and so is the ability to deny all healing from essence with a basic ability. Thankfully, Ana is fairly vulnerable to getting ran down herself by Dehaka by a good brushstalker. Just be ready to use E quickly to avoid the sleep.
• Deathwing - Not only is he immune to drags, but his massive hitbox is fairly efficient at blocking drags on everyone else either.
• Cho’gall - Dehaka doesn’t have the greatest single target damage to burn him down, and Gall can interrupt drags with his stunning orbs even as he is being dragged himself. On the flipside, Dehaka can focus more on macro and punish the inflexibility of chogall draft to deal with him.

Heroes Dehaka is good into
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Just to be clear, there are not many heroes that like being dragged for 2.25 seconds into bad positions. There are some standouts regardless that he is extremely effective against.

• Diablo - Into Diablo he is amazing. He is the easiest target to hit with a drag in the game with his aggressive playstyle, and he is fairly easy to blow up in a drag if you have any of the heroes that Dehaka is typically great with. After level 4, Dehaka himself is practically immune to Diablo himself because of his stealth.
• Imperius - The level 4 talent destroys him in all the ways possible. No spears, no E, no nothing.
• Kerrigan - She is extremely easy to drag due to her telegraphed back to front movement, and you can use your E to protect any allies from her combos while avoiding those aimed towards you entirely.

Maps

To cut it short, what makes for a great Dehaka map:

• Lots of bushes
• Large size to utilize global
• Macro focused maps
• Camps that are easily defended with Drag
• Maps with split objectives

S tier maps

Dragon Shire
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So Dragon Shire is great for several reasons. The nature of the split objective is one such. The bottom shrine is positioned in such a way, where the only ‘safe’ way out of the shrine is usually by walking through a bush which is also known as the lizard territory. Another is the quantity of maps on the bottom side of the map that are relatively easy to invade for your team, and with burrow you can make it an easy 5v4. It has a lot of bushes for Dehaka to easily rotate and collect essence between lanes. Its great.The only downside for Dehaka on DS is that winning the shrine on top also matters quite a bit and while he is not bad in 1v1s, there are good amount of offlaners who can destroy him in a 1v1.
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Cursed Hollow
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Macro focus, siege giants, a lot of the same as in Dragon Shire. The objective does not split the team the same way as it does on DS but during curses having global is extremely valuable since your team can push very hard on a lane and threaten keep, while the quick rotation speed of Dehaka on sidelines means you are not losing xp and the global means your team isn’t left alone in a 4v5 if they commit everything to defending the push.
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Towers of Doom
Might be, in my opinion, Dehaka’s strongest map. The presence of global enables a solid amount of invasion plays on enemy sapper camps, and the split objective means that every time an altar spawns on two other sides of the map, Dehaka will be there to make the objective fight 5v4 way before the global-less enemy offlane can do anything about it.
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Sky Temple
Really, most of the things that can be fitted into DS can also be applied onto Sky Temple aswell. It is slightly worse on Sky because Dehaka struggles a bit on capping temples alone due to low single target damage and conditional sustain but his global is even more important since all structure damage matters on the map, and pushing out a lane can be just as valuable as getting an objective.
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Garden of TerrorMostly he is awesome here. Lots of bushes, large size, macro heavy gameplay etc. You just want to make sure you have another hero in team who is effective at taking camps because Dehaka is not one, and camps are what often decide Garden games. At least he is very good at clearing the enemy camps.

A tier maps

Infernal Shrines
The map has lots of bushes, 3 lanes to soak and moderate macro relevance. One thing that makes Dehaka still a star on the map is his ability to drag shaman camps into towers to instantly clear them. Just because I took him lower than on some others doesn’t mean he isn’t great here, the reason I didn’t put him in S was mostly because he is not the most effective in clearing the extremely impactful objective alone, nor is he very good at dealing with it if enemy gets it.
Where Dehaka really sucks is when he has to fight on an open lane with no bushes, to defend against a punisher or such.
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Tomb of the Spider Queen
Historically this is a bit controversial take due to the map’s small size. Which is true, it is against Dehaka’s global value. it doesn’t mean though it isn’t immensely relevant on the map, since it can be used to prevent the good old boss cap strategy of taking bot camp, and moving to boss as enemy has to deal with a siege camp.
Aside from that, due to its small size however Dehaka can stack essence extremely quickly, and the quantity of bushes makes him a danger everywhere on the map even without his global.
Dehaka is a very hard to gank offlane, which means gems collected by Dehaka are far more safe than on some other popular offlaners.

B tier maps

Battlefield of Eternity
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Not the best map for him, but playable. The objective sucks the same way as it does on IS and it is more early game heavy. The distance between lanes makes essence management much more difficult.Things he does do well on the map though is defending shaman camps, which is more valuable here than any other map in my opinion. The middle of the map is also riddled with bushes, giving him a ton of opportunities to position properly and getting good drags in. The distance between lanes does also mean the bottom part of the team can play much more aggressively for camps since the global does threaten a constant 5v4.
Alterac Pass
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I hate playing Dehaka on Alterac, but it could be worse. Little amount of bushes makes rotating extremely hard and dragging camps to towers is often of low value. Additionally, taking camps is of a high value and Dehaka really does not do it well on Alterac. The one thing Alterac has going for him is its large size, and the few bushes it has are around objectives so he can still sidepush and join for a fight.
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Braxis Holdout
Dehaka typically isn’t awesome due to the difficulties of gaining essence, relevance of winning point on top lane and lack of siege giant/shamans. The bonus is, if you do win the point its fairly easy to win the bottom point aswell due to using global after bullying the enemy offlaner away from point.

D tier maps

Volskaya Industries
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No bushes, small size, mostly item based camps. Unless Dehaka is the only hero you play, I’d not recommend picking him here.

Base Kit tips

Drag [Q]

• This ability is what most often will win games. Its the longest CC on a basic ability and it has a reposition to boot. Unfortunately, it is also one of the harder parts of playing the hero. Some tips regarding its use;
• While dragging someone, you can still auto attack even if it hurts your movement slightly. In 1v1 it is pretty much always worth it though since good part of your 1v1 damage does come from AAs.
• Drag cannot be cancelled, and you cannot cast E while dragging. Hence recommended to not do reckless drags on low hp while your E is still up.

Mercs
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As I eluded earlier, you don’t have to be the one to deal the actual damage to mercs. You can also drag them into towers and forts for a faster clear. The damage of the drag isn’t high, 160 at a base (159% of one AA), but it is big enough that if you know you are going to base to get mana or you won’t be needing it any time soon, using drag for damage on PvE does increase your clear speed. It is mana intensive, which is why I excluded its use to the two scenarios above.
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Landing drags on heroes

• You don’t have to fish for one. If you can start a fight with a clutch drag that is great. But usually if every other hero is just posturing, that drag is going to get interrupted quickly. It can be good to wait for a bit of chaos to happen so people are less focused on the Dehaka and will have harder time dodging it.
• In general, targets that are walking towards you are the ones that are easiest to hit. If someone is dancing sideways in front of me, I dont have to use it yet.
• Holding the drag: Sometimes not pressing Q when you have it up is more potent than pressing it. It happens quite often on offlane and in teamfights that people are so focused on dodging drag that they are walking in circles in awkward positions eating tons of damage. At some point, after they have taken enough they have to walk away in a straight line - which is when they are an easy grab.
• Use your E. I’ll go over more of this in talents, but you can set up an easy drag on anyone with the use of the level 4 talent ‘’Lurker Strain’’.
• While dragging someone, you can still auto attack even if it hurts your movement slightly. In 1v1 it is pretty much always worth it though since good part of your 1v1 damage does come from AAs.

Dark Swarm
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• Mostly used for waveclear, but it does have a few other applications. Post 13 it also becomes your damage and your slow, and you have to use E less for drag setups.
• Against certain heroes like Leoric for instance being able to pass through heir hitbox has some significant advantages. The downside is, you cannot bodyblock while using the ability.

Burrow [E]

• A good bit of this one’s utility comes from the level 4 talent.
• If playing without the level 4, this is mostly the panic button to use in order to dodge a skill shot, or to buy time for your trait to regenerate you to higher health. Your W does deal damage while you are burrowed, so you can use it while clearing waves in order to dodge spell power reductions from Blaze Qs and such.

Essence Collection [D]
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• Easily the most overlooked and most screwed up part about playing Dehaka. Using 50 essence restores about 61% of Dehaka’s max health. Going to fight without it is like entering one with 40% hp and the healer cannot even patch it up.
• One should never look to enter a fight unless absolutely necessary without essence. If an objective is on its way, it's better to not just directly trade into the enemy offlane just so you are not forced to use your trait before a fight. If I am low on health, I rather use HS and then burrow to the objective (or waddle back to lane first to force the enemy to play aggro on the objective).
• One minion wave gives 14 essence. Even if forced to use essence, if the map is small enough there is a shot you can collect it back before it's too late. Three waves are usually sufficient, getting you to 42 essence. If you are not double soaking in the early game (often due to having a bad lane match up or having to clear camps on a big map), around 1:30 you can use your essence and then unbind the ability until the next objective.

Brushstalker [Z]

• The other easily screwed up part about the hero is the use of global. It is not often correct to use it to get to a lane in order to soak, you have your movement speed for that. When used aggressively though, you can use it to start a teamfight from a position where your drags are much harder to deal with.
• Even when not used, it provides value. As long as your Z is up, the enemy cannot reliably invade your camps (or well, it isn’t smart), you can force the enemy to play objectives more aggressively than they would want to by remaining on side soak before burrowing.
• Situationally it can be used like this if there is a large wave and you know there won’t be an objective coming in the next 70s and the camps are down (especially relevant on ToD) but generally I’d advice learning to save burrows for aggressive usage, and shifting rest of the playstyle to be more macro focused.
• Using Z does remove you from the game for 1.5 seconds allowing you to cleanse most debuffs and avoid Chromie loop if your E is off CD.
• There is an odd interaction that allows Dehaka to clear Chromie loops and avoiding Dots without committing: If you self cast Brushstalker while in a bush, or click the bush location within your own unit radius, the ability is not put on cooldown when used but it still puts you in stasis / removes harmful effects. This is a fairly niche trick but useful when it comes up. I am not sure at this point if this borders bug abuse since blizzard is fairly unclear on what are intended interactions and part of the balance, looking at you Samuro and hearthstone teleport tricks.

Talents / Builds breakdown
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To start off, different builds have different values on different levels of play. The build I pick most of the time is immensely powerful in diamond, master and GM SL aswell as competitive. It is equally powerful in lower ones, but some other builds also become better there (Such as the W build). The % mentions are just my rough estimates on how often I pick a certain talent.
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The builds:
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Standard/Recommended build: 3/1/1/1/1/2/1
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BeginneLow SL build:1/3/3/2/2/2
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Situational Braxis/Alterac build: 2/X/X/1/3/2/1
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Level 1
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Enduring Swarm - 2%

• This is a good talent. It does make Dehaka a lot more durable, it gives him extra duration on W which has some synergy with Hero Stalker.
• The downside is that it cripples his rotations and lethality of his burrow flanks somewhat substantially in comparison to Enhanced Agility. As it is, Dehaka is extremely durable already and while extra sustain never hurts, there is a point where other aspects should be considered.

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Enhance Agility - 96%

• On every map where Dehaka is great, this is awesome. It enables all the rotations between lanes for easy essence gathering, it has great synergy with the 13 talent due to increased duration. In teamfights, this is what allows Dehaka to easily get into positions where drags are easy to land.
• Completing it early is nice, but it isn’t something to be too fussed about since the baseline version of it is already great.

Tissue Regeneration - 2%

• Technically the best for pure 1v1
• I consider this a bit of a training wheels talent, since it does make gaining essence much more easier and the increased. I do pick it still on Braxis just for the increased lane sustain to cover for lack of essence from double soaking. It is not bad on BoE either but Enhanced Agility is also really good on it for the amount of bushes.
• Has synergy with Primal Rage due to increased cap on essence.

Level 4
Lurker Strain - 95%

• This might be the most powerful talent on Dehaka, bar none. Not just the level 4. To paint a comparison, imagine getting E.T.C W with a massive slow, greater knockback, higher damage and stealth from just a level 4 talent. However, it is also the hardest talent to play since it helps you in no way in essence management and it is more complex in its use than the others
• Works extremely well against heroes that are weak against displacements and is very insufferable for several tanks such as Diablo and Varian. If there is ever a moment when Diablo sees a good wall stun, Dehaka can use E preemptively and just stay hidden for your team to reposition to a better spot. If Diablo charges, his Q (or if you miss it, his E) gets interrupted and he will be slowed with no mobility in a bad spot, ready to be dragged to his death. Into Diablo it has extra value since the stealth makes it so he cannot use Q on you.
• Onto heroes like Imperius and Thrall, it's good to use whenever they press their limited time window damage abilities (E’s on both of them). The displacement tends to ruin their effective teamfight window. Even getting a spear through to anyone as Imperius gets complicated. To Yrel, you can use it to interrupt jumps easily even if she is positioning behind minions. This is also one of the few ways to somewhat reliably get drags on the more elusive divers.
• The other good thing about it is that it really makes your kill pressure less reliant on drags. If you have Enhanced Agility you can often position yourself in places easily where you can knock one target towards your team while moving everyone else away. It is extremely potent with heroes like Stukov and Malfurion with powerful consistent AoE effects you can knock them into. On BoE, immortal stuns become your best friend.
• Akin to Mighty Gust, the daze duration as the opponent has no control over their character is always the same regardless of the distance travelled. It is not terribly long duration knockback, and characters have a few frames to press a button that would move them from the drag. However, if Dehaka does push them against the wall, even the slow missile speed of drag is fast enough to confirm a drag to land on any target before they can teleport away.

Hero Stalker - 3%

• A great talent, shame about its tier. This is often what wins games in lower ranks where teamfights last for a long time and using this alongside Symbiosis can grant Dehaka several health bars in a fight. This talent makes the hero a lot easier to play.
• While it is great in lower ranks, there is a bit of an unfortunate side effects to this; Very often when I see Dehaka’s play with this talent the idea that they can get essence without soaking leads them into not soaking. You still should not arrive to fights with no essence because they can still do a blow up before you can get enough of it, and you should still make use of your global presence and soak sidelines. The talent makes some bad habits far less punished creating the illusion that the other options are worse when they are tried.
• Great into Samuro for fairly obvious reasons

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One-Who-Collects - 2%
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• Used to be my go-to until Lurker Strain was buffed. The effect makes gaining essence much easier and allows making trades on offlane. I do recommend this one if you are learning to play the hero and managing essence isn’t yet your strong suit. It teaches less bad habits than Hero Stalker and gives him some extra merc clear which is nice.
• On Alterac I listed this as a situational pick since you are doing a lot of offsoaking and potentially have to be the one to split to defend the camps as an objective spawns. Enhanced Agility is not recommended on the map so its much harder to get into good positions for your E knockbacks in the early game. Lurker Strain is still very good on the map.

Level 7
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Feeding Frenzy - 98%

• Drag is insanely powerful as it is, and this makes it so it becomes even stronger and more spammable. The extra 0.5 second duration is a long time to suffer when you are being dragged into a worse position. The CD starts immediately after landing a drag so you can already prep your next drag during the old one with AAs.
• If you miss a drag, you can hit walls and minions to get it back up faster. Without this talent I’d recommend skipping trying to do fish kills with a drag entirely since missing it gets heavily punished and confines you to being a standing duck for 14 seconds. This also applies to playing several lanes, you should always look to AA whatever you can safely to reset drag CD as quickly as possible.

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Symbiosis - 2%
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• The core talent of the W build. It makes your W spammable which has natural synergy with all the other W talents. Downside is, it doesn’t actually reduce the W’s mana cost and spamming W can quickly drain your mana bar.
• The upside of this build is that it gives Dehaka great damage numbers in games where focus fire is less precedent, it gives him much greater sustain which also matters more in games with less focus fire and it makes him reasonably useful with little skill involved. Its great into melee comps but…in order for it to be really good you need Hero Stalker and Lurker Strain also happens to be extremely powerful into melee comps. I do recommend this for beginners and plat and below SL.
• Into Samuro it is almost a necessity in order to be able to sustain the pressure, which is where I still lock it.

Paralyzing Enzymes - 0%
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• This is terrible. Dehaka has reasonably good shot at holding on to gambit stacks but the damage over time in team fights is rarely more useful than the extra duration & fishing potential of Feeding Frenzy and less impactful in 1v1s than the CDR.

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Level 10
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Isolation - 100%

• High skill high reward skill shot.
• 3s silence and slow is often as good as a kill when used in a right spot. One easy way to land one is right after landing a drag when they are close and have to run away, but into some heroes I’d recommend the opposite. Especially into brightwing. If she doesn’t die during the drag she won’t die at all due to blinking away. While the drag stun and silence will mostly overlap, the isolation’s vision removal does have a side effect of being unable to press Z or Blink Heal for 6 seconds. The 30% slow on the isolation also makes drags a lot easier to land if you do manage to secure an isolation.
• The ability does have a high delay and moderate travel speed, which is why its often great as a follow up. Alternatively if you have trust on your aim, using Z to join a fight as your team is engaging and going straight for the Rehgar from flank for instance to put him of a 6s timer of no Ancestral is fairly effective if your team lacks the tools to kill a target before an ancestral would land.

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Adaptation - 0%
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• Too slow of an effect just to add more sustain to already a very high sustain hero.
• Low ranks and for beginners this can be great since the focus fire will often be more forgiving, allowing this to trigger on time.

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Level 13
Ferocious Stalker - 93%

• Massive power spike.
• This allows your W to instantly clear waves. It allows you to do big enough damage to threaten a solo kill on a flank, and it gives you access to very easy slow so you don’t have to use other tools to confirm drags. If you are clearing waves, this it is almost always worth the detour to move to a bush and trigger this. Assuming you have Enhanced Agility that is. The talent isn’t worthless and sometimes even worth picking without it, but it becomes much more consistent with it.

Primal Swarm - 4 %

• If I am playing the hero stalker build , I might consider this. But on top of Samuro, it gains a bit of extra value against heroes that naturally have armor like Deathwing. It sucks enough to play Dehaka into DW but this makes it a bit more tolerable.

Primal Rage - 3%

• Need to still win point on Braxis? This is awesome. If you are in BoE and your team decided once again to draft 0 race and you don’t have enhanced agility? Great. But it is often the option to pick when you are in a situation you should not be in to begin with.
• Has synergy with Tissue Regen due to having a higher cap on the AA damage

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Level 16
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Elongated Tongue - 0%

• Potentially good,
• Most of the value of this talent comes from the fact it is not meta and people misjudge the drag range. The issue is that Drag has fairly slow missile speed and usually isn’t very reliable on max range to begin with - and it is even more unreliable on a higher range. Drag is still a powerful enough ability that this talent cannot be called bad.

Pack Leader - 0%

• A fairly worthless option.
• Has synergies with the AA build but it does also have some issues. You need to use bushes to get value out of this, and if you are able to do so you often want Enhanced Agility. Meanwhile the AA build is fairly reliant on Primal Rage that kind of wants Tissue Regen instead of agility to function. The temporary AA speed increase is fairly low, and while the armor is nice we don’t need to pump the hero’s sustain upwards much more.

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Tunneling Claws - 100%

• An insane talent. It makes Dehaka much harder to kill and near impossible to gank (especially when combined with Lurker Strain). But on top of the defensive elements, the kill potential of being always able to move to a position where the knockback effect of E is just perfect is the greatest draw. My usual sequence when killing a frontliner post 16 often is Drag -> move back -> E to their other side -> knock the kill target back to allies and push everyone else away from helping.

Level 20
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Contagion - 99%

• If Isolation is good, up to 5 isolations is also good. Tanks get a nasty habit of trying to peel for their backliners from isolations by blocking them and this puts a stop to that. You don’t need to hit many targets for it to be great, a single isolation effectively puts 1 person out of a fight for 6 seconds. If you hit it on even 2, you are likely to win the fight if you do it early and they cannot all just back away.

Change is Survival - 0%

• If you pick Adaptation, this is reasonably good.

Essence Claws - 1%

• The effect is nice, but usually just nice isn’t enough to compete with a threat to silence an entire enemy team.
• You do have other slows as it is, and requiring the AA targets to be heroes makes it fairly inconsistent to use. I pick this mostly if we are ending the game and Isolation happens to be on cooldown.

Apex Predator - 0%
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• Just a worse version of Epic Mount of Falstad, and even that has fallen off the meta. The reason why Epic Mount is still situationally viable at places is that the talent is on a hero that is not vulnerable when threatening a core with no bushes around, one that has solid siege damage on structures and the global can be used to go to core aswell as for moving out of there.
• Meanwhile Dehaka cannot really do the same shenanigans as Falstad to the same extent even with this talent. He can move only away from the core, and he is extremely vulnerable to getting rotated there if the enemy has any interrupts to Z.

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Laning tips
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Do note that these estimations expect two equally skilled players, and playing with the talents listed above. Most of them do not directly improve the 1v1, so experiences may vary.Favored match ups

• Blaze
• Malthael (post 7)
• Chen (post 7)
• Thrall*
• Illidan*
• Gazlowe*
• Imperius (Post 4)

Fairly even match ups

• Leoric*
• Artanis*
• Yrel*
• Sonya*

Unfavored match ups

• Murky*
• Rexxar
• Samuro (Can be made into even with adjustments)
• Hogger
• Deathwing (No chance)

Thrall

• Thrall does not have really high clear, and his damage window is heavily limited by his windfury. If you use E and knock him back when he does windfury, or drag him, he will often be forced to tank minions while trading negatively against you.

Imperius

• Once again, the key is the use of E. His damage window is often limited to his Q + E window. If you knock him back as soon as he uses E, he loses his sustain. After 7 it gets much easier since you don’t just have to rely on your burrow to deny it.

Illidan

• For all his mobility, Illidan is fairly easy to drag. And I am not saying to try to drag him as he is attacking and jumping about, save it for when he uses Q. The windup on the ability is long enough that you can land if by aiming it on your other side as soon as he uses it.
• If he does not use Q, you can make the drags easier to land by backing off and forcing him to run into you for an easier target.

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Leoric

• Every second drain can be canceled with E and you just need to dodge half of them to come out ahead. Leo E has 10s CD while Burrow has 17s post level 4 so the time window is also limited for Leo to land the drain.
• As I alluded to earlier, using Swarm during this timer to stack with his hitbox makes it hard for Leo to land a drain, but admittedly it is not the easiest thing to pull off as Dehaka either.

Artanis

• Artanis' shields and Dehaka's low single target damage do not go well together. In order for Dehaka to do well on the lane, they need to count the CD left on Artanis shield and aim drags to land when he cannot get a shield up.
• Artanis cannot really recover from taking big hits due to lack of self healing mechanics, so while Dehaka is outtraded in the short run over longer period he can be taken down. Just don't trade with him right after his shields reset.

Yrel

• This is a match up where both need to play smart. Yrel can deny Dehaka’s clear by timing a D + W as soon as Dehaka presses Dark Swarm, and Dehaka can deny Yrel’s clear by using E and Q to interrupt jumps and Q casts
• E does have a mini stun to it so it does interrupt all the casts. The match up really comes down to who bothers the other more on the clear. Both of the two have fairly scuffed single target damage so the wave management is usually what makes the difference in clear

Sonya

• You can technically deny all her healing and clear if you are good enough with drags.
• Her hitbox is fairly small on bruiser standards (only 0.75 - for sake of comparison, Dehaka’s is 1.0 and Leoric's is 0.81) with extra movement speed and she can do the same to your drags as you can do to Leoric by spinning on top of your hitbox. In a pinch the E also does interrupt her spin.
• If she picks Wrath you are done 1v1’ing.

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Murky

• I am not trolling when I say this but a good murky is the bane of Dehaka on lane. Dehaka is very prone to getting kited by slows and his low single target damage doesn’t really put a dent on Murky’s hp regen, and he clears the wave slower than a murky does.

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As per usual, hopefully someone got something out of this. It has been a while since I written my last write up on bruisers. If there are any other particular bruisers people would want to see me make a write up on, do mention it. (I had to repost this due to reddit markdown acting stupid).